By Niall Clarke
- Andy Murray defeats Borna Coric 6-1, 6-2 in the BNP Paribas Masters second round
- The British number one will play David Goffin in round three
- Aljaz Bedene was defeated by John Isner 6-3, 7-6(3)
Paris, France- Andy Murray thrashed teenager Borna Coric in under an hour to set up a Davis Cup warm-up against David Goffin in round three.
Tennis:
When the draw was made on Friday, Britain eyed the potential round three between Goffin and Murray. The British number one is set to face the Belgian number one in the Davis Cup final at the end of the month meaning there was a high chance we could get a taster of what we will see in Gent.
It was all providing both players could not make a hash of their round two matches today. Goffin did his part with an easy 6-2, 6-2 win over Dusan Lajovic, so it was up to Murray to set up the much anticipated clash.
The world number two had not played in nearly three weeks since his thrashing at the hands of Novak Djokovic in Shanghai, but showed no signs of rust in the opening stages.
The last time these two met went entirely the way of Coric. A 6-1, 6-3 in Dubai was quite an embarrassment for Murray and he was keen to avenge it.
The Brit was ruthless in the early stages breaking early and remaining efficient on serve. The 18 year old could not keep up with a superb Murray who was not giving the Croatian many free points. A second break of serve would put the set beyond any doubt.
Coric remained competitive early in the second as he searched for a breakthrough, but the world number 46 could not create any break points on the Murray serve.
Instead the Brit would put together four straight games to round off a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory- the perfect revenge for Dubai, and sets up the round three with Goffin.
The Davis Cup final warm up will kick off proceedings on Thursday at 10:30AM local time (9:30 GMT).
“Any time you spend time on court with opponents you can learn about their game,” Murray said as reported by BBC SPORT.
“It’s good to play against him but I will obviously, before the tie, watch matches of him playing on clay to learn and understand his game better on that surface.”
Bedene loses out to Isner
British number two Aljaz Bedene is out of the BNP Paribas Masters after a 6-3, 7-6(3) defeat to John Isner.
It would be a tall order for Bedene to take down the 6ft10 American, but ultimately he would fall short in straight sets.
The Brit could not muster a single break point on the Isner serve, and was broken in the sixth game of the first set. Bedene would go on to lose the set 6-3, but would force a tiebreak in a competitive second. However the theme of not touching the 13th seed’s serve continued in the breaker. Two mini breaks was enough for Isner to see out a straight sets win.
His reward is a round three clash with Roger Federer, who avenged his Australian Open defeat to Andreas Seppi with a 6-1 6-1 thrashing.
Other results
In Murray’s section, seventh seed Kei Nishikori continued his impressive deciding set record with a 7-6,6-7,6-1 victory over France’s Jeremy Chardy. Next for the Japanese is another Frenchman in Richard Gasquet who was successful against Leo Mayer 6-2, 7-5.
Fifth seed Tomas Berdych survived a scare from Edouard Roger-Vasselin to come through 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. That sets up an intriguing round three against Frenchman Jo Wilfried Tsonga who made easy work of Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2 6-2.
Rafael Nadal came within two points of defeat against Lukas Rosol last week, but in Paris he made sure not to allow it be so close. The Spaniard easily dispatched the Czech 6-2, 6-2.
Viktor Troicki battled through Feliciano Lopez in three sets, whilst Grigor Dimitrov defeated Marin Cilic in two tiebreak sets.
Andy Murray is due on court at 10:30AM local time (9:30 GMT) to face David Goffin on Thursday
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