Britain's Murray eases into third round, Ferrer eliminated
By Drazen Jorgic
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Britain's Andy Murray enjoyed a routine win over Argentina's Juan Monaco to ease into the third round of the tennis tournament at the Rio Games on Tuesday, while Spain's world number nine David Ferrer was knocked out.
Murray, who won singles gold at the London Games, outclassed Monaco 6-3 6-1 in just over an hour and will next face either France's Benoit Paire or Italy's Fabio Fognini.
"I played pretty well, hit the ball good from the back of the court, not many unforced errors. It was a good match," said Murray, who is favourite to take gold after Serbia's world number one Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the first round.
Earlier, Russia's Evgeny Donskoy edged 34-year-old Ferrer in three tense sets. Donskoy, ranked 84 in the world, upset former French Open finalist Ferrer 3-6 7-6(1) 7-5.
"In important moments he played more aggressively than me," said Ferrer, who conceded this may be his last Olympics.
In the women's tournament, American world number nine Madison Keys reached the quarter-finals after outlasting Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 3-6 6-3.
Keys struggled to find her rhythm but in the end her powerful strokes proved too much for the 5 foot 4" Navarro, who has one of the best one-handed backhands in women's tennis.
"It was a really tough match," said Keys, who will now face either Italy's Sara Errani or Russia's Daria Kasatkina.
(Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; editing by Ken Ferris)
