Reuters
Rome, May 13: World No 3. Andy Murray who had doubts over participating in the Rome Masters, however, started his campaign on a blistering note demolishing Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-3 in 84 minutes here Wednesday. This was Murray’s 10th successive win on clay, the longest so far in his career on this particular surface. In another tie, Rafa Nadal gave ominous signals to his competitors with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Turkey’s Martin Ilhan.
In a match played Tuesday evening defending champion Novak Djokovic scraped over his first hurdle with a 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over Spanish clay court specialist Nicolas Almagro. The World No. 1, given a bye into the second round, was in total control as he swept through the opening set at the Foro Italico, but the aggressive Almagro settled down to his task and made the Serb work hard for an 18th consecutive Tour victory.
After winning the second set in tie-break, Almagro continued to trouble Djokovic with his power. Djokovic kept his nose in front on serve though and broke in the eighth game after winning a long baseline exchange. The three-time Rome champion then completed the job on his second match point when Almagro fired a backhand long.
Stanislas Wawrinka also reached the third round but was stretched before overcoming Argentina’s Juan Monaco 4-6 6-3 6-2. However, the biggest casualty of the day was ninth seed Marin Cilic who lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 4-6, 3-6, but there was no hiccups for seventh- seeded Spaniard David Ferrer who came through 6-4, 7-5 against France’s Richard Gasquet.
In the women’s event, top seed and defending champion Serena Williams crushed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-3 in her first match. She hit 25 winners and converted five of her seven breakpoints in the 62-minute match.
Maria Sharapova also wasted little energy as she moved into the third round. The Russian, seeded three, was 6-2, 3-1 ahead when Australian opponent Jarmila Gajdosova retired.
