Cincinnati: Murray reaches third round

Coming to Cincinnati straight from his gold-medal winning performance in Rio, Andy Murray took an hour and 17 minutes to defeat Juan Monaco in the second round.

Published : Aug 18, 2016 12:38 IST

Andy Murray, who won the Olympic gold medal, eased into the third round.
Andy Murray, who won the Olympic gold medal, eased into the third round.
lightbox-info

Andy Murray, who won the Olympic gold medal, eased into the third round.

Olympic men's singles champion Andy Murray shrugged off a shoulder complaint and fatigue to reach the third round of the Western and Southern Open on Wednesday.

Coming to Cincinnati straight from his gold-medal winning performance in Rio, the Brit took an hour and 17 minutes to defeat Juan Monaco.

Stan Wawrinka recovered from losing the first set during a rain-interrupted Tuesday and Rafael Nadal enjoyed a winning start, while Nick Kyrgios was an early casualty.

MILEAGE ON MURRAY

Murray and Nadal arrived straight after winning gold medals in the singles and doubles tournaments respectively at the Games, and were met with little trouble in making the third round.

Murray's 6-3 6-2 win was indicative of his current form, and Nadal started quickly to eventually eke out a 6-1 7-6 (7-4) win over Pablo Cuevas.

Meanwhile, Milos Raonic did not have the easiest of times against John Isner in the big-serving battle, needing a tie-break in both sets to claim the 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) victory.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won in a similarly tight fashion against wildcard Reilly Opelka, while Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic and Tomas Berdych were comfortable in their straight-sets wins.

SEEDS SUCCUMB ON WEDNESDAY

Four seeds were knocked out of the ATP 1000 tournament on Wednesday, with David Goffin, Richard Gasquet, Kyrgios and Feliciano Lopez all losing their round-of-32 matches.

While Bernard Tomic recovered from losing the first set to defeat Goffin 3-6 7-5 6-4, the biggest scalp of the day was Kyrgios, who lost 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 7-6 (8-6) to 19-year-old Croat Borna Coric.

Coric saved five of seven break points as Kyrgios smashed three racquets in succession upon losing the first set, before blowing a 5-2 lead and match point in the third-set tie-break. 

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment