Olympics: Murray eases into third round, Ferrer eliminated

Sports Tuesday 09/August/2016 22:35 PM
By: Times News Service
Olympics: Murray eases into third round, Ferrer eliminated

Rio de Janeiro: Britain's Andy Murray enjoyed a routine win over Argentina's Juan Monaco to ease into the third round of the tennis tournament at the Rio Games on Tuesday, while Spain's world No. 12 David Ferrer was knocked out.
Murray, who won singles gold at the London Games, outclassed Monaco 6-3, 6-1 in just over an hour and will next face either France's Benoit Paire or Italy's Fabio Fognini.
"I played pretty well, hit the ball good from the back of the court, not many unforced errors. It was a good match," said Murray, who is favourite to take gold after Serbia's world No. 1 Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the first round.
Earlier, Russia's Evgeny Donskoy edged 34-year-old Ferrer in three tense sets. Donskoy, ranked 84 in the world, upset former French Open finalist Ferrer 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5.
"In important moments he played more aggressively than me," said Ferrer, who conceded this may be his last Olympics.
In the women's tournament, American world No. 9 Madison Keys reached the quarterfinals after outlasting Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Keys struggled to find her rhythm but in the end her powerful strokes proved too much for the 5 foot 4" Navarro, who has one of the best one-handed backhands in women's tennis.
"It was a really tough match," said Keys, who will now face either Italy's Sara Errani or Russia's Daria Kasatkina.