World No. 3 Andy Murray made a confident start to his AEGON Championships campaign with a 6-1, 6-4 dismissal of Italian Andreas Seppi in the second round of the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament at the Queen’s Club on Wednesday.
After the No. 48-ranked Seppi had held serve in the first game, Murray reeled off eight straight games to lead 6-1, 2-0. A dip in concentration from the Scot allowed Seppi back into the match as the Italian levelled at 2-2, but Murray was able to get a fifth break of serve in the 10th game to close out victory after 59 minutes.
“I started the match very well. I played maybe one not so great game on my serve, and apart from that, it was very good,” said Murray. “I returned well. My serve could have been a little bit better, but I was happy with the way I moved and didn't make too many errors.”
British No. 1 Murray enters the AEGON Championships after a career-best quarter-final showing at Roland Garros and is bidding to become the first home-grown champion at the Queen’s Club since Bunny Austin triumphed in 1938. The Dunblane native has won three ATP World Tour titles this year at Doha (d. Roddick), Rotterdam (d. Nadal) and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (d. Djokovic) and improves to a 36-6 season match record.
The 22-year-old Murray next will face No. 16 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez after the Spaniard knocked out Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6(3), 6-3 in 87 minutes.
Australian Lleyton Hewitt set up a blockbuster third-round confrontation with No. 2 seed Andy Roddick after rallying to defeat Portugal’s Frederico Gil 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Hewitt and Roddick, both former ATP World Tour champions, accounted for eight straight Queen’s Club titles before Rafael Nadal broke through to win the title last year. The 49th-ranked Hewitt has a 36-7 record at the Queen’s Club, winning successive titles from 2000-02 and reclaiming the top prize in ‘06.
Hewitt leads the head-to-head series against Roddick 6-4, but has lost his past three matches against the American. He last defeated Roddick four years ago in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells semi-finals.
“[It’s] a good challenge against one of the best grass court players in the world,” said Hewitt. “He's obviously got a big weapon with his serve. He's got a big forehand. He moves well for his size. Just playing grass court tennis, to come up against a guy like that is going to be a big step up from my first two matches here.”
Another former World No. 1, Juan Carlos Ferrero, also booked his place in the third round by ousting French No. 11 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4. He will next play Belgian qualifier Xavier Malisse, a 7-6(6), 7-6(8) winner over South African lucky loser Rik de Voest – a late replacement for No. 7 seed Marat Safin, who withdrew with a back injury.
World No. 146 Nicolas Mahut rediscovered the grass-court form that took him to the final of the AEGON Championships in 2007 to edge out No. 5 seed Marin Cilic 7-6(1), 7-6(4). In a match without any service breaks, the French qualifier withstood 11 aces from Cilic’s racquet – while firing nine of his own – and saved all four break points he faced to defeat the No. 13-ranked Cilic of Croatia in one hour and 48 minutes.
The 27-year-old Mahut enjoyed the best week of his career two years ago at the Queen’s Club when he stunned World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals en route to reaching his maiden ATP World Tour final, which he lost to Roddick in a third set tie-break after holding one match point. He is playing in his first tour-level event since losing in the first round at Lyon in October 2008 and missed the first two months of 2009 with a right shoulder injury.
“Here is my favourite tournament. Even if I lost in final with match points two years ago, it's so many good memories. The crowd was just fantastic with me, and I have fun. I really love play here,” said Mahut. “I played two good matches, and the road is really long, but I know the way to go farther.”
The 20-year-old Cilic, who is at a career-high in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, dropped to a 27-10 mark on the season. The right-hander, who reached the AEGON Championships quarter-finals two years ago, has won two ATP World Tour titles this season at Chennai (d. Devvarman) and Zagreb (d. Ancic).
Mahut goes on to face 2005 Queen’s Club finalist, Ivo Karlovic, for a place in the quarter-finals. The 6’10” Croat fired 33 aces and did not face a single break point on serve as he defeated Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6(7), 6-7(4), 6-2 in just over two hours. Like Mahut, Karlovic made his first appearance in an ATP World Tour final at the Queen’s Club – only to be denied by Roddick.
Russian No. 14 seed Mikhail Youzhny booked his place in the third round after rallying from a 2-4 deficit in the second set to beat Cypriot wild card Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 7-6(3). World No. 44 Youzhny posted solid results on clay in the past month, reaching his ninth ATP World Tour final at Munich (l. to Berdych) and making the semi-finals at Kitzbuhel (l. to Garcia-Lopez).
Youzhny takes a 2-0 head-to-head record into his next match against World No. 7 Gilles Simon, including a five-sets win two years ago at Wimbledon. Simon advanced with a 7-6(7), 7-6(5) victory over Bulgarian wild card Grigor Dimitrov.
Belgian Steve Darcis defeated Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-2, 6-4 in his second-round match, and then received a walkover into the quarter-finals when fourth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils withdrew with a left wrist injury. Coming into London, Darcis had won just one match (1-9) on the ATP World Tour this season although he was a runner-up at the clay-court Challenger tournament in Prostejov last week.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3936.ASP)
