ANDY MURRAY will open his North American campaign against Teymuraz Gabashvili at the Citi Open in Washington DC later this week after the Russian beat German Benjamin Becker in round one.

As the tournament's No.1 seed, Murray was given a bye through to the last 16.

The Scot and Canada's Daniel Nestor were beaten in the doubles late on Monday night in Murray's first match since his Davis Cup heroics against France.

Andy's brother Jamie and Australian John Peers, the winners in Hamburg on Sunday, are also in Washington, but have drawn the world's top pairing, Florida twins Bob and Mike Bryan, who claimed their 107th ATP title in Atlanta last weekend.

Scot Jocelyn Rae and Surrey's Anna Smith face wild cards Louisa Chirico and Alize Lim in the ladies doubles.

SWIMMING: Scotland's Dan Wallace is in bullish mood going into this morning's 200m individual medley heats at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia.

Florida-based Wallace took Commonwealth gold in the 400m IM in Glasgow last summer, and he will contest the longer event on Sunday.

The 200m offers useful speed work, but Wallace said: "I'm a lot more confident now. My goal is to really make that step up against the best guys in the world."

CRICKET: Australia captain Michael Clarke has hit out at critics who have questioned his desire in the wake of his poor run of form during the current Ashes series.

Clarke, 34, has scored just 94 runs in his six innings against England so far, at an average of 15.67, and he has not scored a Test century since December, when he hit 128 against India in Adelaide.

The poor run of form, which contrasts markedly with his career achievements, where he still averages just under 50, have led to speculation that he could be nearing the end of his international career.

But Clarke said it was "rubbish" that he was finished as a Test cricketer.

"I think somebody said they could see it in my eyes that I was finished after this series," he said. "That's a complete load of rubbish."

The Australian skipper has a series high of just 38 runs batting at No.4, leading to speculation that he might step down the order or even pull out of the firing line altogether.

But he believes he is still good enough for a place in the Australian line-up and says he just needs a bit of luck to enable him to turn a promising start into a big score.

"I feel like the one time I got in this series, I declared in the second innings at Lord's (when he was on 32 not out), and I need to have another innings like that where I get in," he said.

"I just need to find a way through hard work, self-belief and a bit of luck to get to 30, and I think I'll be in a much different place."

Clarke, who hit 151 on his Test debut in 2004 and has scored 28 centuries, says he still has the self-belief and is working as hard as ever.

But he has been stung by doubts over his application or attitude.

"To question me on my hunger kills me, it absolutely kills me, because I pride myself on trying to get better every single day," he said.

"I've always believed the harder you work, the luckier you become, and the older I've got, the harder I've worked.

"To this day, I'm the first to training and the last to leave, so don't tell me that I don't have the desire and the hunger.

"I have no intention to walk away from cricket. I'm 34, not 37, and I want to keep playing for Australia beyond this series.

"However, I will be judged on performance, like everybody else."

The fourth Ashes Test starts tomorrow at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, with England leading the five-match series 2-1.