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  Olympic champion Andy Murray advances

Olympic champion Andy Murray advances

AP
Published : Aug 19, 2016, 2:45 am IST
Updated : Aug 19, 2016, 2:45 am IST

Andy Murray returns to Juan Monaco in their Cincinnatti Masters second round match on Wednesday.(Photo: AP)

MURRAY.jpg
 MURRAY.jpg

Andy Murray returns to Juan Monaco in their Cincinnatti Masters second round match on Wednesday.(Photo: AP)

Andy Murray followed up his second Olympic singles title with a second-round victory on Wednesday night in the Western & Southern Open.

The top-seeded Scot beat Argentina’s Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-2 to set up a match against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over 13th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France.

Murray had trouble adjusting to the balls and called for a trainer to attend to his right back shoulder in the first set. He won nine of the final 11 games.

“There’s different balls here, and that’s something that’s not easy for a tennis player and you have to be careful with that,” Murray said. “It totally changes how it feels on the racket and how it feels through your body as well. I served better in the second set. It’s just at the start it was a bit sore. I’ve played a lot of tennis but it’s also the ball change.”

On Sunday in Rio, Murray beat Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in four sets in the final.

Murray won the hardcourt event in 2008 and 2011 and has reached the quarterfinals in eight of his previous 11 appearances in Cincinnati.

Earlier, Rafael Nadal beat Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Nadal, the third-seeded Spanish star who won the tournament in 2013, also was coming off the Olympics, where he teamed with Marc Lopez to win the doubles title and lost in the bronze medal singles match. Before that, the 30-year-old Nadal had missed two months with an injured left wrist.

“I think I played well,” Nadal said. “I think I played a good match against a tough opponent in the first round for me for sure. After coming from Rio and after the marathon that I had, it’s a very important victory for me. So I’m very happy.”

Nadal avenged a loss to Cuevas in February in Rio de Janeiro in a clay-court event to set up a third-round match against Croatia’s Borna Coric.