Last updated: 29/07/2012

Murray beats Wawrinka to reach Olympics round two

Andy Murray has defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-3 to move into round two of the men's singles at the Olympics tennis event at Wimbledon.

The British No.1 produced a strong display in front of a vocal home crowd under the roof on Centre Court at Wimbledon to set up a second round encounter with Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) or Somdev Devvarman (IND).

"It feels good," said Murray after recording his first ever win in the Olympics singles, "I won a doubles match in Beijing, but this was the first singles match [win] for me.

"Obviously there was a bit of pressure for me coming in playing at Wimbledon and in a home Olympics, and after losing the doubles yesterday I wanted to try and make sure I was still involved. I played a good match today."

It was the first time back on a singles court for the world No.4 since losing the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer exactly three weeks ago and the reception and support he received from the home crowd didn't go unnoticed:

"It was great, the crowd did a really good job, really got behind me from the first point to the last and I got a great reception when I went back onto the court and that helped settle me down a little bit."

Murray needed just one break in the opening set which he achieved in the eighth game when he followed a Wawrinka double fault with a guided backhand down the line, before going on to hold, sealing the set with an ace.

The British No.1 then broke the Swiss No.2 on his fifth opportunity in the first game of the second set with the rest of the set going with serve until Wawrinka was serving at 3-5.

Murray seized his opportunity to take his third break of the match and in front of a GB box which featured his mother, Judy, Leon Smith and Team GB doubles player Ross Hutchins he booked his place in round two.

Elsewhere persistent rain on day two meant little play was possible on the outside courts and the Heather Watson, Laura Robson and Elena Baltacha & Anne Keothavong matches were all postponed until Monday.

Share

Olympic Highlights - Day 2

The Upset

Germany's Julia Goerges created the first shock of the Women's event on day two by knocking out 2nd seed and Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska. Under the roof on Centre Court Goerges was in superb form as she struck 56 winners past the Polish World No.2 to win 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4. 

Favourites Tested

Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were both forced to battle from a set down before reaching round two of the Men's singles. Australian and US Open champion Djokovic, a bronze medalist in Beijing, fought back in a rain interrupted encounter with Italian Fabio Fognini to win 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2 while Tsonga battled back to see off Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court.  There were no such problems for Maria Sharapova as the French Open champion crushed Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-0 on her Olympic debut.

Farewell

Eight-time Grand Slam doubles winner Paola Suarez came out of retirement to compete at London 2012 after originally ending her glittering pro career after the 2007 US Open.  On day two the 36 year-old Argentinean - a doubles bronze medalist from Athens in 2004 - made her Olympic comeback with partner Gisela Dulko but it was short-lived as they were defeated 6-4, 6-2 on Court 19 by the Chinese team of Li Na and Zhang Shuai.