Tennis: Murray, Djokovic advance in Toronto

TORONTO: Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray and top-seed Novak Djokovic avoided post-Games letdowns with quick opening wins at the Toronto Masters. Murray toughed out a painful 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Flavio Cipolla while Djokovic avoided most of the pressure in his 71-minute defeat of Bernard Tomic 6-2, 6-3. “For the first match it was a decent performance,” said Djokovic. “Although I was struggling to find the rhythm as most of the players who came in late from London did.” Murray pulled off the win in just under 90 minutes and was satisfied with his performance. “After playing for eight weeks on grass, it’s very different here,” said Murray. “The ball bounces higher and the court is slower too but I hit the ball pretty well.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2012.