And the qualifier is Ugly Mug.

the question would most likely have been as to whom you deem worthy of such a title - I personally consider there to be several more worthy than Stepanek

Stircrazy wrote:

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L32:  (Q) Radek Stepanek (CZE) WR 148 (CH = 8 in July 2006) vs (2) Andy Murray WR 2

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Should've mentioned that the head-to-head is 5-2 in Andy's favour.  Ugly Mug first beat him in the last 16 of the Paris Masters in three sets 2009 & had to wait until the same state at Queen's in 2014 for the other win (in straight sets).

theemptyvessel wrote:

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Andy won't be retaining his title playing like this. Hopefully he is playing down to his opponent and will be better in the later rounds but first he has to pull his finger out and get through this match.

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 I don't think he played badly at all.  Radek has a terrific arsenal of shots and uses them cleverly.  In his heyday, despite not having the same level of power, he troubled many of the top guns.  Last night he came out as a man in his mid twenties not mid thirties!  He made every line, every impossible angle.  And those service returns, wow, not often Mr Murray is second best in that regard.   Another day a much lower percentage of those kind of shots would have made the court - as indeed happened as he tired in the third set.  I thought Andy handled it very well, staying calm and focussed throughout.  Plenty of players less combustible than Andy have exploded over the years whilst facing Radek at his finest.  Thought it was a terrifically entertaining match, I enjoyed watching it.

L16:  (16) Gilles Simon WR 18 (CH = 6 in January 2009) vs (2) Andy Murray WR 2

The head-to-head is 13-2 in Andy's favour.  Gilou won their first ever encounter in the first round of the Rome Masters in 2007 by 6-1 1-6 6-3.  His only other win was in the quarter-finals of Rotterdam last year (by 4 & 2).  Their most recent encounter was in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup last year which Andy won by 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3 6-0.