Murray Advances to Quarterfinals of BNP Paribas Masters in Paris
Olympic Gold medalist and 2012 U.S. Open winner Andy Murray defeated wild card Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Wednesday. Murray fired 12 aces to win his opening match, his first event since falling to Novak Djokovic in the Shanghai Rolex Masters final. He is looking to win his first title at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Paris, but has yet to get past the quarterfinals in his first six appearances.
“I served well. I didn’t start the match off returning particularly well. I was struggling a bit with the timing on that,” said Murray. “I think towards the end of the first set, we started to have a few more rallies. But the conditions were fast.”
Murray advances to face qualifier Jerzy Janowicz of Poland.
Fresh off his win in the finals of the 2012 Swiss Indoors Basel over Roger Federer, seventh-seeded Juan Martin del Potro won his 11th straight match, defeating qualifier Alejandro Falla 6-2, 6-2 in their second-round meeting. He next faces wild card Michael Llodra in the third round.
“I feel tired, but this tournament is so good. It’s a big tournament, and I’m ready to do my best like in Basel and Vienna,” said del Potro. “I played really well today. Tomorrow, I have a difficult match against a French guy.”
Del Potro is bidding to lift his third trophy in as many weeks. He beat first-time ATP World Tour finalist Grega Zemlja for the Erste Bank Open title in Vienna and followed it up with his finals win over Federer in Basel.
