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Andy Murray beats David Nalbandian in Paris Masters

Britain's Andy Murray
Murray found his form after a difficult first set

Andy Murray had to dig deep to progress to the third round of the Paris Masters after injuring his wrist during a 2-6 6-4 6-3 win over David Nalbandian.

Nalbandian broke twice early on to quickly wrap up the first set.

But Murray then opted to serve and volley and the more aggressive approach paid dividends as the Scot broke serve in the 10th game of a tense second set.

Unforced errors from Nalbandian in the eighth game of the final set saw Murray break and then serve out the match.

Murray's injury, sustained while hitting a half-volley in the fourth game of the final set, did not seem to hamper him as he comfortably won his remaining service games and then broke serve at 4-3 up as the Argentine made uncharacteristic mistakes from the baseline.

The world number four has had problems with his wrist before - he missed the French Open and Wimbledon in 2007 because of it and was out of action for nine weeks last year - so it was understandable when he said he "got a bit scared".

"At the end of the match it was OK but I will see when I cool down, but I don't think it's going to be anything to worry about," said Murray of his wrist.

606: DEBATE
Sebadono

Nalbandian had had the upper hand on Murray in their previous encounters, winning two of their three meetings, and it seemed as if that would continue as the world number 25 made a blistering start.

Murray had no answer to Nalbandian's tactics and admitted afterwards that playing the former Paris Masters champion had been "very difficult".

"I had to change my game completely and I played serve and volley for the whole of the second set. He was moving me around everywhere and I couldn't hit it from the back of the court," he said.

"I changed the tension in my racquet and it made a difference, maybe mentally more than anything.

"I think I served and volleyed really well and I was hitting my second serve at around 165km-180km an hour, which is big and something I'm going to improve on next year."

America's Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick hit nine aces against Jarkko Niemien

Murray will next play 13th seed Marin Cilic, who earlier beat Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

In the day's other matches, world number two Roger Federer eased into the third round with a 6-4 6-4 win over Richard Gasquet, who was playing in front of his home crowd.

The Swiss took just under one hour and nine minutes to see off the Frenchman, with a break of serve in each set enough to claim a 6-4 6-4 win. Federer is rewarded with a match against Radek Stepanek in the next round.

"It's always dangerous playing Richard here," said Federer, who has never gone beyond the quarter-finals at the event.

"Apart from a couple of games, there wasn't much between us. I've had injuries and problems with tiredness here before, and I hope I can change that this week."

Defending champion Novak Djokovic was far from his best but progressed to the third round with a workmanlike 6-4 6-3 win over Juan Monaco of Argentina.

Monaco started with intent and broke Djokovic in the third game of the first set, but the Serb recovered and saved another break point in the ninth game before winning the first set.

The second set was more straight forward for Djokovic, who had won his three previous encounters against Monaco, as the Argentine struggled to maintain the ferocity of his earlier play.

"He was taking the balls early and being aggressive, and he was the better player at the start of the match," said Djokovic, who lost to Federer in the Basel final on Sunday.

"I was lucky to get the break. When I did that I regained confidence and control of the match, and felt better on the court."

Djokovic will play Michael Llodra in the next round after the Frenchman beat American John Isner 6-3, 6-4, while Andy Roddick faces Ernest Gulbis of Latvia.

Roddick looked in superb form as he comfortably beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-4 in the second round.

Croatian Ivan Ljubicic became the third seed to exit the tournament when he lost 6-4 6-4 to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.



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see also
Murray happy with Paris surface
09 Nov 10 |  Tennis
Nadal confident of making London
08 Nov 10 |  Tennis
Federer backs six-week ATP break
09 Nov 10 |  Tennis


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