Murray eager for a boost
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Fresh from a surprising defeat to Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic at the China Open in Beijing, world No 4 Andy Murray is in need of a boost.
He hopes to regain momentum at the Shanghai Rolex Masters and use that push to qualify for the year-end ATP Tour Finals in London.
"My goal is to qualify for London, and then obviously you want to try and improve on some things," Murray said.
"It's just not every day you wake up and you are not going to feel your best. You've got to try to find a way to come through when you are feeling like that. That's something that I need to get better at."
Murray was sick before arriving in Beijing, and he wants a fresh start in Shanghai.
"I am feeling a bit better than I was," he said. "I would like to win a few matches. It would be nice."
The British No 1 is likely to start his Shanghai campaign against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who will face Chinese wild card Bai Yan in the first round.
"I want to try to qualify for London. I really enjoyed playing there last year," Murray said. "That's what I've got to try to do in the next few tournaments."
So far, only the world's three top-ranked players - Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer - have qualified for the eight-man finals.
On Monday, 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France edged out Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-6 (4), 6-3 to book a place in the second round.
The Frenchman missed the entire summer hard-court season with patella tear in his left knee. He played in the first event of his return last week in Tokyo, falling to Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the first round.
"When you come back, you start from zero," Tsonga said. "So it's important to win my first match. I am really happy because it is not easy."
Elsewhere in Monday's rain-interrupted play, Jurgen Melzer of Austria defeated wild card Yang Tsung-Hua of Taiwan 6-4, 7-6 (5), and Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez overcame Eduardo Schwank of Argentina in three sets, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 6-4.
Ninth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain became the only seed casualty as he was upset by Dutch Thiemo de Bakker 7-6 (4), 7-5.
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