Murray muscles past Troicki into third round

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONACO: Andy Murray dispatched Viktor Troicki 6-0, 6-3 to reach the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday.

The third-seeded Brit led 4-0 after 17 minutes and did not face a single break point in improving to 5-0 against the Serb.

``Normally when I come here I usually find I need a few matches to get adjusted,'' said Murray, who lost to seven-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in last year's semifinals. ``But I played very well, it was a very good first match.''

Murray took the opening set by stepping into Troicki's return and clipping a forehand down the line.

Troicki held his serve at the start of the second set, but Murray took his next service game and held for 3-1. In the next game, Troicki saved two break points playing serve and volley. But Murray took his serve for the fifth time in the match and sealed the victory on his first match point when Troicki's two-handed backhand went wide.

Murray struggled against Troicki in last year's French Open, rallying from two sets down to beat the Serb in the fourth round.

Murray next plays either Austria's Jurgen Melzer or Frenchman Julien Benneteau.

Also on Tuesday, fourth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France was playing Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan reached the second round after rallying to beat 14th-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

In other first-round play, Italy's Fabio Fognini beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 7-5, 6-3; Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win against South African Kevin Anderson, and Filippo Volandri won 7-5, 6-3 in an all-Italian match against Alessandro Giannessi.