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  • Murray and Ferrer skate through, Monaco and Lopez sent packing

    8/26/08 4:00 AM | Cheryl Murray
    - Andy Murray and David Ferrer each began a quest for their first Grand Slam title.

    Andy Murray kicked off his US Open with a straight set thrashing of Argentine Sergio Roitman 6-3,6-4,6-0. The Scot zipped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set with an early break of Roitman’s serve. Roitman played solid, if unimpressive tennis for the remainder of the set, but he never got a bead on Murray’s serve, and the Scot held onto the break to take an early 6-3 lead.

    Roitman came out in the second playing a bit better. The Argentine held until 2-2, where Murray took the initiative again. On his second break point, he secured the first break of the second set. Once again, a single break was all Murray needed to take a two set lead. Roitman totally deflated in the third set and Murray dished out a bagel in the twenty-four minute romp. The highlight of the match came, fittingly, on match point. Murray was seemingly stranded at the net after Roitman guessed right on a Murray volley, and threw up a lob that landed just inside the baseline. Murray scrambled back and hit a blistering winner off his hip. He will play Frenchman Michael Llodra in the second round.

    Andy Murray feels fully fit after Beijing letdown.


    Andy Murray can't complain about opening victory.


    David Ferrer had a bit of a rocky start to his match. The Spaniard seemed to be out of sorts and went down an early break to Argentine Martin Vasallo Arguello. Ferrer got his game together late in the set and broke back to force the tie breaker. From that point, he played more like the number four ranking that is his at the moment. He bagged two breaks in each of sets two and three to seal it up 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-2.

    The first round was not as kind to Juan Monaco of Argentina and Feliciano Lopez from Spain. Juan Monaco was outhit by Japan’s rising star Kei Nishikori 6-2,6-2,5-7,6-2. Nishikori pummelled a flat-footed Monaco with his forehand, and sent the 29 seed home early. Perhaps the bigger upset still is the early loss of Feliciano Lopez to Jurgen Melzer in a five setter. Lopez reached the round of 16 at the US Open last year, where he took a set from Roger Federer. Melzer took the match 4-6,7-6(5),6-2,2-6,6-4.

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