‘Close to my best’ Andy Murray ready for Rotterdam bounceback in strong field

Andy Murray returns to action for the first time since his frustrating Australian Open final loss to Novak Djokovic as the top seed in this week's Rotterdam Open.

Andy Murray returned to the No 4 ranking in the world following his trip to the 2015 Australian Open final. David Crosling / EPA

Andy Murray steps straight back into the fray just over a week since his Australian Open final loss, playing as top seed at the ATP Rotterdam Open from Monday.

The Scot leads three other top 10 rivals into the indoor event, with Canadian Milos Raonic seeded second, holder Tomas Berdych at third and 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka taking fourth.

Despite his Melbourne disappointment at losing 12 of the last 13 games in the final against Novak Djokovic, Murray is ready to strive for more success after returning to the fourth ranking position.

“It’s pleasing to be back playing close to my best. I still feel like I can make improvements in my game. I think I can get a few percent better over the next couple of months,” said the 27-year-old who lost a 2014 Rotterdam quarter-final to Marin Cilic.

Murray won the Dutch title in 2009 and returned in 2011 with a first-round loss to Marcos Baghdatis.

Murray begins play at the Ahoy Stadium against a qualifier and then plays the winner from Canadian Vasek Pospisil and German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Second seed Raonic, a quarter-finalist in Australia against Djokovic, will be making his Rotterdam debut, starting in the first round with another qualifier.

Berdych, the 2014 champion, faces a challenge in dangerous Pole Jerzy Janowicz, who will try to better a quarter-final a year ago when he lost to the Czech.

Wawrinka, 29, is back for the first time in a decade. In his last appearance in 2005, he was beaten in the second round by compatriot Roger Federer.

Wawrinka opens in the first round against Dutch wild card Jesse Hut Galung, ranked 250th.

Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov was beaten by Murray in the Melbourne fourth round and begins his week against a qualifier.

Number six seed Ernests Gulbis faces Austrian Dominic Thiem, who is looking for his first win of the season.

In other ATP tournaments starting from Monday, Kei Nishikori enters as the top seed at the ATP Memphis Open in the US, coming off a disappointingly uncompetitive defeat to Wawrinka in the Australian Open quarter-finals. He should be the heavy favourite in a draw that features the next-highest seed as world No 15 Kevin Anderson. Seeded third is local hopeful John Isner (No 18) and fourth Alexandr Dolgopolov (No 24). Nishikori enters the last 16 automatically on a bye before he will face either Malek Jaziri or a qualifier.

Monday will also see the ATP’s Brasil Open in Sao Paulo begin play, with Feliciano Lopez the top seed in a field including Tommy Robredo, Fabio Fognini and Leonardo Mayer.

On Sunday three ATP finals will be contested in Montpellier, between Richard Gasquet and Janowicz, Quito, between Feliciano Lopez and Victor Estrella, and Zagreb, between Guillermo Garica-Lopez and Andreas Seppi.

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