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| April 27, 2006 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1427 |
Murray goes down fighting
BARCELONA, April 26: Fifth seed David Ferrer struggled to beat British teenager Andy Murray 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 in the second round of the Barcelona Open on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old Scot served for the match at 6-5 in the second set but Ferrer broke back to love and then snatched the tiebreak 7-4 before easing through the decider.
Spaniard Ferrer, the world number 12, will play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland for a place in the quarterfinals.
After trading breaks in the opening two games Murray, who before this week had never won a match on clay on the ATP Tour, earned the vital break in the seventh game and held on to move ahead.
Ferrer served for the second set at 5-3 but Murray showed great tenacity to break back and then saved two set points before breaking again to lead 6-5.
That seemed to rouse Ferrer, though, and the Spaniard broke back to force a tiebreak and recovered from 3-0 down to level the match.
Once Ferrer had broken in the third game of the decider there only ever looked like being one winner.
Promising French teenager Gael Monfils was sent packing, beaten 6-2, 6-4 in the second round by unseeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.
The 19-year-old led 4-2 in the second set but Almagro broke the Monfils serve twice in succession before serving out for victory.
He will now play Argentine third seed Guillermo Coria, who survived 16 double faults to beat Spanish wildcard Galo Blanco 6-7, 6-0, 6-2.
Ninth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic battled back to beat Albert Montanes of Spain 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a first-round match.
Tuesday’s results:
Second round: 3-Guillermo Coria bt Galo Blanco 6-7 (4-7), 6-0, 6-2; 5-David Ferrer bt Andy Murray 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Stanislas Wawrinka bt Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4; Nicolas Almagro bt 13-Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-4.
First round: Fernando Vicente bt Alex Calatrava 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; Ivo Karlovic bt Max Mirnyi 6-3, 6-4; 12-Fernando Verdasco bt Robin Vik 6-3, 6-4; Albert Portas bt Oscar Hernandez 6-2, 6-4; Alberto Martin bt Bartolome Salva 6-4, 6-2; 9-Tomas Berdych bt Albert Montanes 4-6, 7-5, 7-5; Agustin Calleri bt Justin Gimelstob 6-2, 6-1; Filippo Volandri bt Andrea Stoppini 6-3, 6-1; Potito Starace bt Lukas Dlouhy 6-4, 6-2.
CASABLANCA: Casablanca International men's singles first round: 1-Nicolas Massu bt Michael Berrer 7-6 (7-4), 6-0; Mehdi Tahiri bt Oliver Marach 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); 7-Daniele Bracciali bt Olivier Patience 6-3, 6-4; 2-Luis Horna bt Tomislav Peric 7-5, 6-2; 3-Christophe Rochus bt Tomas Behrend 6-3, 6-4; Marc Gicquel bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-1; 8-Gilles Simon bt Jan Hernych 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Florian Mayer bt Lamine Ouahab 6-1, 7-6.—Reuters
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