Andy Murray bidding to overtake Roger Federer in world rankings at the Montreal Masters

Andy Murray could move beyond Wimbledon nemesis Roger Federer in the world rankings this week, as his hard-court season continues at the Rogers Cup ATP Tour event in Montreal.

The British number one, who has endured a busy summer with his semi-final exit to Federer at SW19 followed by a heroic performance to take Great Britain past France and into the last four of the Davis Cup for the first time since 1981, needs to reach the final in Canada in order to jump back from third to second behind Novak Djokovic.

Murray has been given a bye for the opening round and will face Tommy Robredo in his first match after the latter overcame fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on 10 August.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Rafael Nadal, 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori are among the talented players in his half of the draw. Djokovic or Stan Wawrinka is likely to lie in wait if indeed he does reach the final two.

After being knocked out of this competition by Tsonga at the quarter-final stage last year, the 28-year-old's preparations this time around have been relatively short and he was surprisingly dumped out of the recent Washington Open at the second-round stage by 51-ranked unseeded Georgian Teymuraz Gabashvili.

"It wasn't like I was blown off the court," a philosophical Murray said in the wake of that shock defeat. "It was the first hard-court match for four-and-a-half months with only four or five days of preparation, so I was happy with how I moved and did certain things on court."

Murray's camp also confirmed last week that he and wife Kim Sears were expecting their first child, although he subsequently insisted that he was understandably more concerned about the baby being healthy than speculating on how such a life-changing event could impact upon his professional career.

The two-time Grand Slam winner enjoyed unquestionably his best ever season on clay earlier this year by winning titles in both Munich and Madrid, while his straight-sets exit at Wimbledon was preceded by a fourth Aegon Championship crown at London's Queen's Club that included two victories in one day over Viktor Troicki and Kevin Anderson.

On his slow transition to the hard courts of North America, Murray insisted taking time to acclimatise to a tougher surface was certainly nothing new.

"I feel OK, it always takes a bit of time getting used to the hard courts," he told the BBC. "Not so much with the tennis, but it's a tough surface on the body after coming from clay and grass which are a little bit more forgiving."

Following the Masters in Montreal, Murray is scheduled to compete at the Western and Southern Open later this month before the final slam of the year, the US Open, gets underway on 31 August at Flushing Meadows.