Sluggish Murray, Nadal advance in Monte Carlo
monaco — Top-ranked Andy Murray returned from an elbow injury to beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-5, 7-5 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
The right elbow injury prompted Murray to withdraw from last month’s Miami Open and he also missed Britain’s recent quarterfinal loss to France in the Davis Cup.
Rafael Nadal began his quest for a 10th title in the principality but was also made to work hard by Murray’s compatriot Kyle Edmund — winning 6-0 5-7 6-3.
Nadal made a dazzling start on one of his favourite courts but hard-hitting 22-year-old Edmund hit back to worry the Spaniard who was playing his 400th match on the red dust.
Victory for Nadal came in his 400th match on clay, his record on the surface an outstanding 36634. The Spaniard swept the first set 6-0 against 45th-ranked Edmund, but found himself fighting for survival in the third set. The fourth seed finally squeezed home after two and a quarter hours.
Murray looked a bit sluggish early on, dropping serve in the opening game. He saved two set points in the ninth but then broke and held to love to move 6-5 up.
He took the first set on Muller’s serve when, having done well to retrieve two drop shots from Murray, Muller missed an easy smash at the net. He whacked his racquet against his shoe in frustration and then smashed it on the ground, buckling it in half.
Murray dropped serve again in the opening game of the second set but broke straight back. He set up a match point with an excellent backhand cross-court winner as he retrieved a shot deep into the court, and clinched victory on his first opportunity when Muller hit a forehand wide. Former champion Stan Wawrinka, who won here in 2014, hit 32 winners and broke Czech player Jiri Vesely’s serve five times in a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win.
Ninth-seeded Tomas Berdych, the runner-up here in 2015, rallied to beat 39-year-old German Tommy Haas 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
“It just shows what a great player he was and still is,” Berdych said. “Even at this late stage in his career he’s still able to play like that.”
Fifth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia won 6-3, 6-0 against Jeremy Chardy; sixth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria downed Dutchman Robin Haase 6-3, 6-2; No. 13 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain won 6-4, 6-4 against Karen Khachanov; No. 14 Alexander Zverev of Germany broke Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez’s serve five times in a 6-0, 6-4 win, and No. 15 Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain won 6-2-6-2 against Argentine Carlos Berlocq.
India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas beat Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Austrian Alexander Peya to enter the second round of the men’s doubles event.
Bopanna and Cuevas overcame a strong challenge to win the first round clash 6-3, 6-7, 10-2 in one hour and 27 minutes at the Monte Carlo Country Club.
The Indo-Uruguayan combination will meet Raven Klaasen of South Africa and American Rajeev Ram in the second round. Ram and Klaasen were handed a bye in the first round. —