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Andy Murray confident ahead of Madrid open

AFP
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Andy Murray confident ahead of Madrid open
Andy Murray beat Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in Munich on May 4th. Photo: Christof Stache

Andy Murray arrived in the Spanish capital at the start of the Madrid Masters on Tuesday buoyed by his first clay court title in Munich.

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The British Wimbledon champion was working to acclamatize to Madrid, heading quickly to the practise courts for an acclimatising hit-out on the Madrid clay.

"Conditions last week were very different to what they are here. Obviously I think a little bit more altitude here. But it's been very warm. Last week it was very cold a lot of the days and raining.

"It's going to be a tricky turnaround."

In first-round play, tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov advanced when Donald Young retired trailing 6-4, 3-0.

The seeded French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils advanced comfortably, with number 12 Tsonga beating Lukas Rosol 7-5, 6-3 and 13th-seeded Gael Monfils crushing Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-0.

Estoril finalist Nick Kyrgios beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-3 to set up a match with top seed Roger Federer.

In women's matches at the ATP-WTA tournament, holder Maria Sharapova beat Mariana Duque 6-1, 6-2 and began moving into position for a possible return to the number two rankings she lost through a second-round Stuttgart exit last month.

The Russian needs to reach the Madrid final to replace Simon Halep on second after the Romanian was sent out in the first round at the weekend.

But five-time Grand Slam winner Sharapova is not concerned with the details.

"I face the ranking questions every single week obviously because ranking is a big part of the sport. It's not my main purpose and my main goal.

"If I'm not ready to beat someone towards the later stage of a tournament, then I'm not ready to beat them from the very beginning. My goal is to win championships."

Petra Kvitova, the 2011 champion and fourth seed, advanced to the third round over American CoCo Vandeweghe 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Victoria Azarenka, losing finalist to the Czech here four years ago, beat Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia 6-3, 6-3.

That victory moved the former number one into a confrontation with top seed Serena Williams, with the challenger having won two of their last five matches dating to early 2013.

Ana Ivanovic, seeded seventh, beat Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-4 while 14th seed Karolina Pliskova and number 15 Sara Errani both lost.

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