Murray and Mirnyi through to face the Bryan brothers

Published on Wednesday 7 May 2008 00:13

JAMIE Murray and partner Max Mirnyi have moved into the second round of the Rome Masters doubles event thanks to a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Dmitry Tursunov and Stanislas Wawrinka last night.

The Scot and his partner from Belarus got off to a bad start as they went 3-0 down in the opening set but fought back to 3-3 before going on to win the set 7-5.

The pair then broke in the opening game of the second set which ultimately proved enough for the win. Next up for the duo will be a match against world No 1 doubles pair Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA.

Jamie's brother Andy will also be hoping to make it a family double over Wawrinka today when he faces the Swiss No 2 in the second round of the singles tournament.

The winner of that match could face a potential third-round clash against clay-court king Rafael Nadal.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer settled a score with his bogey player Guillermo Canas yesterday, easing his way into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Canas went into the game as one of the few players on the tour to hold a winning record against the world No1, but yesterday's result evens things up at three victories apiece.

Federer a 12-time Grand Slam winner, said he was confident he was back to his best after suffering from glandular fever and losing his Australian Open title in a poor start to the season. "I'm back in my stride again and feel like I'm playing well and nothing ever happened," he said. "It was a tough couple of months early on."

Nadal, aiming for his fourth consecutive Rome Masters title, will meet unseeded 2001 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in a second-round match today after his fellow Spaniard came from behind to beat German Nicolas Kiefer 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over fellow American Mardy Fish.

Croatian wildcard Mario Ancic defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4 and will meet fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the second round.

On the women's tour, fifth seed Serena Williams brushed aside Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the German Open, taking her winning streak to 16 matches. Top seeds Justine Henin and Ana Ivanovic are in action today.