Murray and Soares make easy progress in New York
JAMIE MURRAY and Bruno Soares began the defence of their US Open title with a straightsets win over Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya.
It was not entirely straightforward for the ScottishBrazilian pair, who came from a break down in the opening set and then saved two set points in the second-set tie-break on the way to a 6-4 7-6 (8/6) win.
Murray and Soares won their second Grand Slam title of the year in New York 12 months ago, following up their Australian Open triumph by beating Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the final.
It has been a disappointing year in the slams so far for Murray and Soares, who reached the French Open quarter-finals but lost in the first round in Australia and the second round at Wimbledon and will want to put that right in New York.
Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki has criticised the US Open for giving Maria Sharapova prime-time billing following her return from a doping suspension.
The US Open broke ranks with the other grand slams by awarding Sharapova a wild card and the five-time grand slam champion has played both her matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the biggest arena in tennis.
After beating Simona Halep in the night session on Monday, Sharapova defeated Timea Babos on Wednesday to reach the third round.
Wozniacki found herself scheduled fifth on Court 5, one of the smaller courts at Flushing Meadows, with her match against Ekaterina Makarova eventually moved to Court 17.
The pair were the final players out on court and Makarova finally completed her 6-2 6-7 (5/7) 6-1 victory after midnight.
Wozniacki said: “I think putting out a schedule where the No 5 in the world is on Court 5, fifth match on, I feel at 11pm, I think that’s unacceptable.
“When you look on centre court, I understand completely the business side of things and everything, but someone who comes back from a drugs sentence and performanceenhancing drugs, and all of a sudden gets to play every single match on centre court, I believe is a questionable thing to do.”