Murray insists inside knowledge is key to US Open success

 ANDY Murray insists he already has one-up on his US Open second round opponent Paul Capdeville after the duo used to train together.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Andy Murray's route to a maiden grand slam victory has been made easier by the exit of three potentially tricky opponents

World number two Murray opened his Flushing Meadows account with a straight-sets victory over Latvia's Ernests Gulbis to set up a clash with Capdeville, who he played with at the Sanchez-Casal academy in Barcelona.

And despite being ranked 85 places above Capdeville, 22-year-old Murray admits that experience will be vital against his flat-footed opponent.

"I haven't seen him play for quite a long time," said Murray. "But I know his game pretty well and there won't be anything there to surprise me.

"He's a solid player and does everything pretty well but he doesn't move very well, so I'm going to try and exploit that.

"We had the same coach when we were in Barcelona and I played a couple of doubles tournaments with him about five years ago."

Capdeville's claim to fame may well be his bust-up with Croatia's Mario Ancic at the 2006 French Open, with the Chilean failing to advance past the second round of a grand slam to date.

And Murray's route to a potential maiden grand slam victory has been made a little easier by the shock exits of 6ft 10in Croatian Ivo Karlovic, world number 20 Stanislas Wawrinka and Spain's Feliciano Lopez, who all departed in the first round.

But while Murray will be focussed on going one better than last year's Flushing Meadows campaign - where he lost to Roger Federer in the final - the Scotsman has indicated he will take his place in Great Britain's Davis Cup team.

Great Britain must win their tie against Poland in Liverpool on the weekend following the US Open to avoid relegation to Group Two of the Euro-Africa zone, the competition's third tier.

Murray missed the tie against Ukraine in March through illness but John Lloyd, the British captain, will be banking on him taking his place in the six-man squad.

Great Britain need Murray more than Murray needs Great Britain and the Dunblane-ace admits he knows how crucial he is to the team's success.

"I plan on playing as much as I can because it's something I really, really enjoy - I love playing the Davis Cup," added Murray.

"If I don't play, our chance of winning is a lot less because our depth is not quite there.

"But I want the second singles spot to go to Dan Evans because he is a talented player and we need to start preparing for the future.

"I don't know him that well but he needs to grow up mentally which I needed to do at that age as well and the Davis Cup is the perfect stage to do that."