Murray Cruises In Cincinnati While Berdych and Dimitrov Are Eliminated
Andy Murray rolled into the third-round of the Western and Southern Open on Wednesday as he defeated Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-3. Murray notched three of four break points and didn’t allow a single break on his way to the straight-set victory.
A two-time champion at the Cincinnati event, Murray is seeking a return to a final match since winning Wimbledon in 2013. The 27-year old was ousted from the Rogers Cup in Toronto last week by eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who fell in the first-round of this tournament on Tuesday to Mikhail Youzhny.
The Brit was able to break Sousa early on in the first set and never looked back. He hit 11 winners in that opening set and picked up an early break in the second set that his Portuguese opponent could not come back from.
“I got the win and that’s the most important thing,” said Murray. “It’s very different conditions here this week and a lot of the guys are struggling to control the ball, so I was happy to come through. He’s [Sousa] a tough player. He makes a lot of balls and he fights hard so it’s a good start.”
Murray will play the winner of American John Isner and Australia’s Marinko Matosevic, who took to the court shortly after the Murray/Sousa match concluded.
Jerzy Janowicz pulled off an upset this morning in Cincinnati as the Pole knocked off eighth-ranked Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to move into the third-round. He ripped 12 aces and notched points on 79 percent of his first serves to keep the Bulgarian at bay.
Janowicz will meet Frenchman Julien Benneteau for a spot in the quarterfinals. Benneteau beat Britain’s James Ward 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Fifth-ranked player in the world Tomas Berdych saw his Western and Southern Open run come to an end as well on Wednesday as the Czech fell to Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Lu ripped nine aces and picked up two break-points on his way to the comeback victory. He moves on to play the winner of Lleyton Hewitt and Fabio Fognini who play later Wednesday.
