Murray, Nadal Cruise Into Paris Third Round
Andy Murray rolled into the third-round of the Paris Masters, downing Croat Borna Coric 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday.
The Scot dominated this match with his serve, winning 84 percent of his first serves, and converted two break points in each set to move past Coric routinely.
“I lost to him quickly last time and today it was very different, said Murray, referring to Coric’s 6-1, 6-3 win over him at the Dubai Championships this past February. “I hit the ball well and I was able to defend, too, which is a pretty important part of my game.”
Murray didn’t allow Coric a single break point chance in this match, and quickly dispatched the 18-year old in less than an hour.
Up next for Murray will be 16th seeded Belgian David Goffin, who ousted Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal had no problem in his second-round contest on Wednesday either, routing Czech Lukas Rosol 6-2, 6-2.
This match was far different than the one these two played in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors last week which went to a third-set tiebreaker.
Nadal broke in the second game and quickly built a 3-0 advantage in the opening set on Wednesday, and two more break points in the second set was all the seventh-seed needed to move on.
“I played a solid match,” said Nadal afterwards. “Not many mistakes.”
He will look to replicate that performance when he takes on the winner of Dominic Thiem and Kevin Anderson.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori had to work a little harder than Murray and Nadal to advance in Paris on Wednesday, but the sixth-seed snuck out a 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 6-1 win over France’s Jeremy Chardy.
After Chardy extended this match into a deciding third set with a win in the second set tiebreaker, the Frenchman built a 1-0 lead in the final frame. But from there Nishikori rattled off the next six games to close him out and move on.
Nishikori, who reached the semifinals in Paris a year ago, will take on another Frenchman next, Richard Gasquet.
The 10th seed Gasquet defeated Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-2, 7-5 in his second-round match on Wednesday.
American John Isner knocked off Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 7-6(3) to move on. He will take on Roger Federer, who rolled Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-1.
Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov picked up a nice victory on Wednesday by defeating 12th seeded Croat Marin Cilic 7-6(3), 7-6(2) to set up a third-round match with eighth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer.
