Sparkling in the sun /Norrie through to third round in Monte Carlo

Cameron Norrie is through to the third round of the Rolex Montecarlo Masters after a hardfought victory over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.

The Briton clinched a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory in a match which lasted an hour and 45 minutes and will now face Italian qualifier Lorenzo Sonego for a place in the quarter-finals.

There was good news, too, for compatriot Jamie Murray, who along with his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, made it through to the last eight in the men’s doubles with a 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 10-8 win over Ivan Dodig and Edouard Roger-vasselin.

Rafael Nadal showed no lingering effects of a recent injury as he breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 win against Roberto Bautista Agut.

Nadal was making his season debut on clay and playing his first match since suffering a knee injury at Indian Wells last month, but the defending champion looked sharp from the start and secured an early break of serve for 2-0.

Aside from having to save five break points across two games – at 0-40 down in the fourth game and at 15-40 in

0 Britain’s Cameron Norrie plays a forehand during his win over Marton Fucsovics of Hungary at the Rolex Monte-carlo Masters.

the sixth – Nadal was otherwise untroubled by his Spanish countryman.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion converted his first match point when he met his opponent’s strong forehand with a crisp volley at the net.

“I was able to move well and be confident in the

things that I did,” said the 32-year-old. “Now what I need is to play matches, spend hours on court, and of course victories help. Every victory is a positive energy, confidence in the game, confidence in the body. Today was a good start.”

Nadal is looking to win

the clay-court tournament for a record-extending 12th time and increase his Masters record to 34 titles. He next plays Grigor Dimitrov, whom he has beaten 11 times out of 12. One of Nadal’s wins against the unseeded Bulgarian was in last year’s semis.

Third-seed Alexander

Zverev, as well as Dominic Thiem (4), Stefanos Tsitsipas (6), Daniil Medvedev (10) and Fabio Fognini (13) also advanced to the third round but fifth seed Kei Nishikori, who lost to Nadal in last year’s final, was beaten by Pierre-hugues Herbert 7-5, 6-4