Britain's top netman Andy Murray proved himself a full recovery
from injury with a classy 6-4, 6-1 win over Radek Stepanek in the
first round of the Madrid Masters in Madrid on Monday.
The 20-year-old Scot put the Czech to the sword with the help of
an impressive array of passing shots to earn himself a second-round
match against 15th-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.
Murray had missed over three months of the season with a wrist
injury and signaled his return to form by reaching the final in
Metz earlier this month.
In Monday's other plays, qualifier Robby Ginepri came back to
beat Austria's Jurgen Melzer 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 and book a daunting
match against defending champion Roger Federer.
Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis will meet
number two seed Rafael Nadal after the Cypriot clinched a 6-3, 4-6,
6-1 win over Romanian qualifier Andrei Pavel.
Fernando Verdasco breezed past fellow Spaniard Alberto Montanes
6-1, 6-1 and will face third seed Novak Djokovic next.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2007)