Murray,Tsonga sail through at Monte Carlo Last updated Wednesday April,18th,8:12 am
18/04/2012 8:08 am
World number four Andy Murray brushed aside Viktor Troicki 6-0 6-3 with consummate ease to get his clay-court season off to a blistering start at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Murray, who received a bye through to the second round, stormed through the opening set without losing a single game and continued his fine form into the second, breaking early again before closing the match out in confident fashion.
The third seed, who was playing for the first time since reaching his 10th career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Miami - where he was defeated by Novak Djokovic - never looked troubled by his opponent and immediately found a good rhythm on both his serve and groundstrokes.
The British number one has always had Troicki’s number, winning all four of their previous meetings; the only time Troicki came close to beating Murray came at their only previous clay court meeting at Roland Garros last year. The Serb has now lost his last 24 matches against top 10 players.
"It was very good, getting off to a good start in the match," Murray told a news conference.
"Sometimes it's close, tight, first set, first match on clay, kind of anything can happen. You can start rushing. It's very easy on the clay to start rushing and making mistakes but because I got ahead I didn't need to do that.
World number five Jo-Wilfried Tsonga secured his place in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-2 6-4 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The scoreline did not do justice to the German’s resistance in what was a tough match for a rather sluggish Tsonga, but the fourth seed stepped up his intensity at crucial moments to prevail.
It was a solid, if unspectacular, performance for Tsonga but the Frenchman was jubilant as he departed Court Central, celebrating his 27th birthday with a victory in front of a delighted Monaco crowd.
"Verdasco is far from being a present," Tsonga said.
"But on the other hand, it's a gift because I'm going to confront one of the best players on clay court.
"It's always good to play against the top players on clay because you can get used to the high quality of their game and you will not be surprised when you play them in major events."
18/04/2012 8:08 am