Andy Murray continued to apply polish to his claycourt tennis as the second seed reached the third round of the Barcelona Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Stakhovsky Tuesday. Murray, playing the tournament for only the third time, secured his second career win at the Real Club de Tenis in 78 minutes. The world No. 4 now stands 4-0 over Stakhovsky, a Ukrainian journeyman ranked 68th. “I hit the ball really well,” said Murray. “I felt good physically but a bit mentally tired. it wasn't from playing a lot last week (Monte Carlo). Sometimes you just wake up and don't always feel that great on the court.” Murray is working to reach the form which took him to a Roland Garros semifinal a year ago, with hopes of doing even better. The 2010 champion Fernando Verdasco also won a second-round encounter after a bye, with the Spanish ninth seed defeating Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-1. Verdasco didn't bother to defend his title in 2011 after a dispute with the organizer but is now back in the Spanish fold. In the first round, Portugal's Frederico Gil scored an upset as he took out 12th seed Marcel Granollers of Spain, 6-2, 6-2 while No. 13 South African Kevin Anderson was untroubled by Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-2, 6-3. Australian Bernard Tomic, seeded 15th, dominated fading Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 6-4 on to make a winning debut at the event. Six-time champion Rafael Nadal will attempt to pick up where he left off at the weekend after winning an eighth straight Monte Carlo title when he opens after a bye against compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, a winner over Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-3. Kuznetsova in 2nd round In Morocco, former US and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova moved into the second round of the Grand Prix SAR by beating Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-1, 7-5 Tuesday. The second-seeded Russian, whose last tour singles title came in 2010, broke Daniilidou seven times. Third-seeded Petra Cetkovska of Czech Republic beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-4, 6-2, and fifth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania advanced when Fatima Zahrae El Allami of Morocco retired after losing the first set 6-1. Qualifiers Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Garbine Muguruza Blanco of Spain won their first-round matches along with Sweden's Mathilde Johansson and Spain's Laura Pous-Tio. Bertens beat Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 7-5, while Muguruza Blanco outlasted Anna Tatishvili of Georgia 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in 2 hours, 40 minutes. In late matches, Arina Rodionova of Russia won the opening set 6-2 against Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky but retired when 4-0 down in the second. Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands beat seventh-seeded Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9) in a match that was suspended late on Monday at 5-5 in the third because of darkness. Stosur advances In Stuttgart, US Open winner Samantha Stosur said she was happy with her start to Stuttgart's WTA clay-court tournament Tuesday after seeing off China's Shuai Peng in straight sets. The 28-year-old Australian, who is the fifth seed here, needed less than an hour to see off Peng 6-2, 6-2 and was rarely tested by her Chinese opponent in her first round tie. In the second round, Stosur will face Germany's Julia Goerges, the defending champion, who needed three sets to see off Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 after more than two hours. French qualifier Alize Cornet will face second-seed Maria Sharapova in the second round after her 6-3, 6-4 win over Russia's Anna Chakvetadze. And compatriot Mario Bartoli, the seventh-seed here, is also into the second round after her 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic. Bartoli will face either ex-world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic or Germany's Mona Barthel in the second round.
