World Tennis Tournament: Murray eases into second round in Rotterdam
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Top-seeded Andy Murray made a solid start to his Rotterdam campaign with a 6-3, 6-2 win over French qualifier Nicolas Mahut on Wednesday, while Stan Wawrinka was made to work three sets by a 248th-ranked wild card.
Facing local favorite Jesse Huta Galung, the fourth-seeded Wawrinka struggled with his serve in the second set and was broken twice before recovering to post a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory in his first match at Rotterdam in 10 years.
A semifinalist at the Australian Open, Wawrinka will next play Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who defeated Denis Istomin 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Murray, who played his first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in Melbourne, saved five of the six break points he faced.
The Australian Open runner-up had a dip in concentration while serving for the match at 5-0, when Mahut finally broke him, but the 2009 champion held on his next service game.
"I was pleased with my high level," Murray said. "It was a match with two players with different game types."
Murray will next take on Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
Andrea Seppi, who was runner-up in Zagreb last week, also advanced to the second round with a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 win over wild card Robin Haase to set up a match against defending champion Tomas Berdych.
Frenchman Gael Monfils, who admitted earlier this season to being undermined by personal problems, served nine aces to upset seventh-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 7-6 (5). He was joined in the quarterfinals by Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who defeated Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-3.
