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Page last updated at 05:23 GMT, Tuesday, 31 March 2009 06:23 UK

Murray reaches last 16 in Miami

Sony Ericsson Open, Miami
Date: 25 March to 5 April Coverage: Updates on BBC Radio 5 Live, live scores/text commentaries on BBC Sport website & mobiles. Live on Sky Sports.


Andy Murray
Murray is hoping to end the week as the world number three

Andy Murray overcame a tricky start to beat Chile's Nicolas Massu and reach the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Monday.

The Scot, 21, lost the opening three games as he struggled on serve but recovered to edge the first set and dominate the second in a 6-4 6-4 win.

Murray will face world number 41 Viktor Troicki in the last 16 after the Serb beat Bjorn Phau 6-4 6-3.

Top seed Rafael Nadal beat Portugal's Frederico Gil 7-5 6-3.

It was not the easiest of afternoons for the world number one, who had to recover from a break down in the second set against the man ranked 74.

"I think I didn't play well, I didn't play very good tennis or feel very well on court," said Nadal.

"He played well and he had his chance. It's difficult to play well every day, the important thing is I'm in the next round and I have another day to play my best tennis."

I missed a lot of first serves early on and it was giving him a lot of chances to get into the point

Andy Murray

On the women's side, fifth seed Venus Williams beat 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6 6-1 6-4 and remains on course for a semi-final showdown with sister Serena , who was given a tough match by China's Jie Zheng.

She recovered from being a break down in the third set to overcome the 17th seed 7-5 5-7 6-3.

Venus was another winner unhappy with her form, saying: "I just had a lot of errors. Errors, errors.

"It seemed like when I had the winner it became an error. On days like that, you just kind of have to let the errors go behind you and continue to play aggressively and not pull back."

Murray paid for a first-serve percentage of 45% in the opening set against Massu and it was the Chilean's errors that allowed the Scot back into the set.

When he broke to go 4-3 up it seemed as though the fourth seed was on track but he played another poor service game to let Massu back to 4-4.

Fortunately for the Briton, Massu could not handle the pressure at key moments - three successive double-faults handed the initiative to Murray once again and he served out confidently.

Murray raced 5-1 clear in the second set and, despite letting one of the breaks go, there appeared to be little danger until Massu got back to 5-4.

606: DEBATE

The Chilean then earned two chances to level the scores in a dramatic game but made unforced errors on both and, eventually, Murray closed out the victory on his second match point.

"He started very well, hitting the ball hard with his forehand and I was hitting it short," said Murray.

"But after 3-0 in the first set I played very well until 5-1 (in the second) and then completely lost concentration, and ended up being in a battle at the end, which I didn't necessarily need.

"I was much happier with the way I hit the ball today compared to my first match, bar the first and last three games."

Elsewhere, sixth seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina eased past Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 6-1, and 11th seed David Ferrer of Spain beat Croatia's Marin Cilic 3-6 6-3 6-4.

In the women's draw, 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki beat fourth seed Elena Dementieva 7-5 6-4 to set up a quarter-final against eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-1.

Samantha Stosur followed up her win over second seed Dinara Safina by beating Amelie Mauresmo 6-4 6-4, and the Australian now meets 11th seed Victoria Azarenka , who defeated Agnes Szavay 6-2 6-4.



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see also
Miami photos
30 Mar 09 |  Tennis
Murray v Massu as it happened
30 Mar 09 |  Tennis
Murray battles through in Miami
28 Mar 09 |  Tennis


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