• ATP Tour

Murray races past Stakhovsky in Barcelona

ESPN staff
April 24, 2012
Andy Murray is the second seed in Barcelona © Getty Images
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Andy Murray wasted little time as he got his Barcelona Open campaign off to a winning start against Sergiy Stakhovsky.

The British No. 1 was beaten by Tomas Berdych in the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals last week, but returned to winning ways with a 6-3 6-2 win over the world No. 68 to claim only his second victory at the event.

Murray, who missed the event last year with an elbow injury and has not played at the ATP 500 event since 2008, booked his place in the third round with a routine victory thanks to three breaks of serve.

He may not have played many matches at Spain's oldest tennis club but Murray, who spent his teenage years at the nearby Sanchez-Casal Academy, claims Barcelona feels like home.

And he looked comfortable on the clay as he cruised through the opening set before racing to victory in an hour and 18 minutes to set up a third-round meeting with either Santiago Giraldo or Robin Haase.

Ninth seed Fernando Verdasco booked his place in the third round with a comfortable 6-3 6-1 win over Steve Darcis.

Australian teenager Bernard Tomic is safely through to the second round after navigating his way past unpredictable Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-3 6-4.

Portugal's Frederico Gil stunned home favourite Marcel Granollers claiming a surprise 6-2 6-2 win over the No. 12 seed, while there were wins for Kevin Anderson and Albert Ramos.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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