Murray eases through in Cincinnati

ANDY Murray continued his good form in North America by beating Sam Querrey 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 to reach the third round of the Cincinnati Masters yesterday.

The British No1 will have high hopes for the tournament after reaching the semi-finals in Toronto last week, claiming a first win over Novak Djokovic before a creditable performance in defeat to Rafael Nadal.

But he began sluggishly in his match with Querrey, going a break down against his fellow 21-year-old before clawing his way back and then racing through the second set.

"I was feeling pretty uncomfortable on the court to start with," said Murray. "It is so fast here compared to last week (in Toronto] and I was struggling to control the ball early on and getting a bit frustrated. But when I calmed down and played a few more games I started to play better and won comfortably in the end."

Murray was troubled by a long-standing knee injury against Nadal and needed a scan before competing in Cincinnati. But ultimately it was his movement and retrieving that frustrated Querrey as he ran out of ideas and belief.

"It is something that comes and goes when I play a lot of tennis," Murray said of his knee. "Some days are better than others, it is a bit of inflammation around the kneecap, but I think that is normal on this surface. I chased a lot of balls down and I was hitting the ball harder as it went on so I definitely feel good."

Murray made the worst possible start as he was broken to love in only the second game. Querrey's big serve and hard hitting were causing the Scot all sorts of trouble, but he managed to open his account in the fourth game.

And three games later he got the break back as the erratic side of his opponent's game came out. Errors were free-flowing from both men in a low-quality start but Murray managed to level things up at 4-4.

The world No8 won their only previous meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, but that was two years ago when Querrey was still ranked outside the top 200.

The American has made giant strides since then, clinching his first ATP Tour title in Las Vegas in March and breaking into the world's top 50. He also reached the quarter-finals in Cincinnati last year, and was still landing enough big blows to take Murray to a tie-break. However, another wild ground stroke gave the eighth seed an immediate mini-break and he never looked likely to let the advantage slip.

Murray also began slowly in Toronto last week, losing the second set against Stanislas Wawrinka to love in his third-round clash before going on to record that impressive win against Djokovic.

The Scot had the bit between his teeth now, and although Querrey's big serving enabled him to save one break point, a sublime lob from Murray earned him a 2-0 lead. The home hope by now looked out of ideas, with Murray proving equal to everything Querrey could throw at him.

A double break was easily achieved as Querrey played into Murray's hands by venturing to the net more often. But just when it looked like the match was over, Murray handed his opponent a lifeline with a poor service game – the break sealed by a double fault.

The next game saw Murray's advantage re-established – another sublime lob helping the Scot break Querrey's resistance – and he easily served out for an ultimately comfortable victory.

Murray will now face Dmitry Tursunov in the third round after the Russian stunned 13th seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 (10-8), 6-0 late last night.

"I have played Tursunov three times and beaten him three times and he is a slightly more erratic player than Gasquet," said Murray, before he knew the identity of his next opponent.

Australian Open champion Djokovic began the recovery which he hopes will lead him to another big title by surviving two mini-crises and reaching the last 16. Djokovic, who said last week it would take too long to explain what had been affecting his recent form, almost went a break down in the first set and had to recover from 2-4 down in the second before beating Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6, 7-6.

On the women's tour world No1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia opened her hardcourt campaign with a laboured 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Czech teenager Petra Kvitova to stumble into the third round of the Montreal Cup.