Easy opening wins for Djokovic, Nadal and Murray at Cincinnati

Andy Murray congratulated by Mikhail Youzhny of Russia after their match at the Western & Southern Open yesterday. (Getty Images)

World No.2 Andy Murray got off to a winning start at the Western and Southern Masters 1000 event at Cincinnati, beating Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets 6-2 6-3. He will next face Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-2 5-7 7-6(4)

Murray had suffered a shock 3^rd round loss last week to Ernests Gulbis at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, but the Brit was in complete control through his match yesterday as he broke Youzhny’s serve multiple times.

“I wanted to play a solid match, but I would have liked to have hit a few more winners. I came to the net a few times and missed a couple of volleys, but I was getting into positions,” Murray told Sky Sports.

“I want to play more aggressively [before the US Open].”

Murray also felt that the conditions at Cincinnati suited him better as compared to Montreal.

“It was an important match for me to get through,” Murray added. “I want to get through as many matches as possible before the US Open. I only had a couple last week.

“I prefer the conditions here. The court suits my game. I felt more comfortable and moved pretty well.”

Murray was joined in the next round by Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic beat Argentine Juan Monaco 7-5 6-2 on a chilly day in Cincinnati. But the World No.1 didn’t let the weather affect him too much as he went about his business with ease.

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“Between 4-1 and 4-5 (first set), four quite bad games for me,” Djokovic said. “I stopped moving my legs. I didn’t really go for my shots.

“I let him kind of dictate the play and wait for his mistake, which was not the right tactics.

“But all in all, I expected a little bit of a challenge for myself especially because he’s a good player but also because it’s the first match here in Cincinnati, which has different conditions from what we played in Montreal.”

Rafael Nadal, who beat Djokovic in the Montreal semi-final last week, also came through in straight sets beating Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-2 6-2 in the night game. Nadal has been on a fine run at the Masters 1000 events this year, having won 5 out of the 6 events that he has taken part in; 4 of those were on his favourite clay.

“I played well tonight, I should be very happy the way that I played since the beginning,” Nadal said. “Just for a few games the serve was down a little bit. For the rest, I think I played a great match.

“When you change cities, change a little bit of weather, the feelings on the ball is different and when you have these kind of tournaments back to back it’s not easy, but I’m very happy with the way I played this afternoon and the way that I adapted the game.” added the Spaniard who has one US Open title to his name.

Djokovic and Nadal are on a collision course once again, as they are scheduled to meet in the semi-finals if they come through their respective set of matches.

Other results

Round 2

Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat 9-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 7-5 3-6 6-3

6-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-3 6-2

Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) beat James Blake (U.S.) 6-4 6-4

12-Milos Raonic (Canada) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 6-4 7-6(4)

John Isner (U.S.) beat 8-Richard Gasquet (France) 7-6(6) 6-2

Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Jeremy Chardy (France) 6-4 2-2 (Chardy retired)

7-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) beat Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 7-5 7-5

David Goffin (Belgium) beat Vasek Pospisil (Canada) 7-5 1-6 7-6(6)

11-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Marcel Granollers (Spain) 6-4 6-1