Andy Murray looks to repeat Davis Cup win in Miami
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Murray vanquished Young in the opening rubber of the Davis Cup World Group last-16 tie three weeks ago in Glasgow, laying the foundation for a stirring Britain victory over the US.
Leon Smith’s men now face France in London later this summer and for now Murray’s sights are firmly set on the ATP World Tour 1000 series event in Florida, a tournament that the Scot won in 2009 and 2013.
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Hide AdMurray has a 4-1 head-to-head record over Young, the last of those wins being the 6-1, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 success at the Emirates Arena.
If the defeats Young, third-seed Murray will play either Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo, who is seeded 27th, or Dutch qualifier Robin Haase.
Young won through to the second round after his opponent Lu Yen-hsun retired. The 25-year-old from Atlanta was leading 5-1 in the first set when Lu, of Chinese Taipei, was unable to continue
In the women’s draw, former champion Agnieszka Radwanska won her opening match yesterday, beating Anna Schmiedlova 6-4, 7-5. Radwanska, the 2012 champion in Miami, has advanced to at least the quarter-finals in each of the past five years.
Andrea Petkovic beat American Christina McHale 6-2, 6-2.
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Hide AdIn the late games on Wednesday, former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka eased into the second round. A host of injuries has seen the Belarusian’s world ranking drop to 36 and she enters this week unseeded but she reached the final in Doha last month and overcame Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-1, 6-3 in Miami to set up a clash with Jelena Jankovic.
Daniela Hantuchova is out after the Slovakian lost to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) while Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova beat Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova 6-4, 6-3.
British No 1 Heather Watson came through a gruelling two-hour contest with Evgeniya Rodina, recovering from a set down to beat the Russian qualifier 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.
American Alison Riske set up a second-round showdown against Svetlana Kuznetsova after defeating Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 6-0.
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Hide AdAnnika Beck of Germany needed three sets to beat China’s Shuai Zhang 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 while American Christina McHale put out wildcard Sorana Cirstea of Romania 7-5, 6-4.
Another American, Irina Falconi, overcame Monica Puig 7-6 (7/9), 7-6 (7/3) but there was also disappointment for the home crowd as Lauren Davis lost 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to Sesil Karatantcheva and Coco Vandeweghe went down 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3 to Urszula Radwanska.
Stefanie Voegele was a 6-2 6-2 winner over Kirsten Flipkens, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 and Daria Gavrilova was leading 5-1 against Marina Erakovic when her opponent withdrew.
There were also wins for German duo Tatjana Maria and Julia Goerges, Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier, Russia’s Elena Vesnina, Belgium’s Alison van Uytvanck and Czech Nicole Vaidisova.
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Hide AdSloane Stephens was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Yanina Wickmayer.
On the men’s side, American Steve Johnson lost to Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Marcos Baghdatis lost to Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-2.
Martin Klizan won and will face world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the second round on Saturday night.
Nicolas Almagro set up a second round clash with second seed and fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal courtesy of a 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky.
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