Andy Murray secured his place in the third round of the Madrid Open with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Marius Copil. <\/p>\n
Eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria joined him by defeating Jared Donaldson of the United States 6-3, 6-4 -- while ninth-seeded David Goffin had nine aces on his way to a 7-6 (3), 6-0 win over Florian Mayer in an action-packed second round. <\/p>\n
Murray -- who is continuing his return from an elbow injury after reaching the semifinals in Barcelona -- eventually forced a late break in a tense opening set before his superior power came through against Copil. <\/p>\n
Copil - the 26-year-old from Romania -- had initially put up some strong resistance, having saved two break point chances on his opening service game of what developed into a tight first set. <\/p>\n
With both players holding, Murray went ahead at 5-4, which put more pressure on the Romanian as he served to stay in the set. <\/p>\n
Murray did not let his chance slip, forcing Copil into a long return from the corner before another fine passing shot from Murray brought up a set point. <\/p>\n
Copil -- who will move into the top 100 next week -- put a return into the net as the Scot claimed the first set in 47 minutes. <\/p>\n
Despite the momentum now being with Murray, Copil continued to find his range, holding a testing fourth game having squandered a 40-love lead to level at 2-2 on serve. <\/p>\n
Murray, though, slowly upped the tempo, forcing another deuce on Copil's next service game that saw a double fault followed by a break chance, which this time the world number one claimed when the Romanian's backhand was long. <\/p>\n
The world No. 1, set to also play in Rome ahead of the French Open, soon moved 5-2 up with a straightforward hold which left Copil serving to save the match. <\/p>\n
However, Murray, who will turn 30 next week, was forced to wait until the next game after another brave response from the world No. 104. <\/p>\n
Murray, though, made no mistake on his serve, forcing Copil into errors to complete his straight-sets win in one hour and 24 minutes after another long return by the Romanian. <\/p>\n
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Murray, Thiem, Goffin progress at Madrid Open - ESPN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Andy Murray secured his place in the third round of the Madrid Open with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Marius Copil. Eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria joined him by defeating Jared Donaldson of the United States 6-3, 6-4 -- while ninth-seeded David Goffin had nine aces on his way to a 7-6 (3), 6-0 win over Florian Mayer in an action-packed second round. Continue reading