Friday, January 20, 2017

Milos Raonic sees off Gilles Muller at Australian Open

Milos Raonic remains on course for the latter stages of the tournament at Melbourne Park
Milos Raonic remains on course for the latter stages of the tournament at Melbourne Park

Milos Raonic continued his strong start to his Australian Open campaign as he eased past Gilles Muller in straight sets to reach the third round.

The third seed, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park for the first time last year before losing to Andy Murray, was a comfortable victor as he won 6-3 6-4 7-6.

Raonic was in clinical form in the Margaret Court sunshine, serving 21 aces and breaking his opponent once in each of the first two sets to take a commanding lead.

Luxembourg player Muller, who celebrated his first ATP title in Sydney this month in his 17th year on the tour, found himself with much to do at that stage, with little more than an hour played.

He made more of the third set, taking Raonic to a tie break, but the Canadian never looked in danger of going out and confirmed his place in the last 32.

Raonic was a comfortable victor against Luxembourg
Raonic was a comfortable victor against Luxembourg's Gilles Muller

Raonic now meets the 25th seed, Gilles Simon, after the Frenchman beat Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-4 6-1 6-1.

Thursday was a day where many of the seeded players in the men's draw advanced without any great difficultly, with scores of unseeded players eliminated.

France Gael Monfils had a blip in the third set against Alexandr Dolgopolov but was otherwise comfortable in a 6-3 6-4 1-6 6-0 win.

Nadal powered past Baghdatis to set up Zverev date
Nadal powered past Baghdatis to set up Zverev date

Rafael Nadal set up an enticing third-round showdown with rising German star Alexander Zverev after powering past Marcos Baghdatis.

Ninth-seeded Nadal, hoping to improve on an injury-hit 2016, was too strong and accurate for the 36th-ranked Baghdatis winning 6-3 6-1 6-3.

"When you have been away, off the tour for a while, you need to come back. The thing that you need is to win," Nadal said.

"I know I have been working great. I know I have been working a lot and very well. I have been practising at high level. So every time that I have the chance to go on court, I am able to have more confidence on what I'm doing."

David Goffin dropped just seven games in his straight sets win over Radek Stepanek
David Goffin dropped just seven games in his straight sets win over Radek Stepanek

David Goffin also enjoyed a straightforward success against Radek Stepanek, the Belgian coming out on top 6-4 6-0 6-3.

Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov came back from a set down to progress at South Korean player Chung Hyeon's expense.

Grigor Dimitrov signs autographs for fans after winning his match against Hyeon Chung
Grigor Dimitrov signs autographs for fans after winning his match against Hyeon Chung

The 15th seed won the opening game of their match but was then uncharacteristically broken three times in succession as Hyeon took an advantage at 6-1.

Dimitrov rallied, however, and broke back on five occasions over the next three sets to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.

He plays Richard Gasquet, who dropped just three games as he defeated Argentina's Carlos Berlocq.

David Ferrer fought back to beat Ernesto Escobedo and take his place in the third round
David Ferrer fought back to beat Ernesto Escobedo and take his place in the third round

David Ferrer also had to fight back to get out of the second round, beating American Ernesto Escobedo 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-2 in two hours and 46 minutes.

The Spanish 21st seed faces compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut - who hit 39 winners en route to a comfortable 6-2 6-3 6-3 victory over Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka - next.

Check our game-by-game updates from Andy Murray's matches at the 2017 Australian Open by following our blog on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportstennis.

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