Andy Murray will take on Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Thursday.
Spaniard battles past Monfils in Montreal
Andy Murray will take on Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Thursday after the Spaniard overcame Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-3 7-6.
Ferrero has clawed his way back up to 29th in the world rankings after injury threatened to end his career, and he looked in good form against the 13th-ranked Monfils.
He broke early in the match for a 3-0 lead and held serve to take the set before Monfils showed his customary resilience.
Ferrero broke early again in the next but the Frenchman levelled at 4-4 after some sparkling rallies but it was the veteran who held the edge in the tie-break, winning it 9-7 and with it the match.
Victory gives Ferrero the chance of revenge over Murray, who knocked him out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals.
"I'm here in the third round against Murray, it means I am playing well," Ferrero said. "I know it is going to be very tough but I'm playing the way that I want to play.
"He's number three in the world, he's very experienced in these kinds of matches, but I learned some things from the match at Wimbledon."
Seeds advance
Elsewhere, fifth seed Andy Roddick eased into the third round with a straight sets victory over Igor Andreev of Russia, although he had to go to tie-break in the second set before coming through 6-1 7-6 (7-3).
Argentina's Juan Martin de Potro, fresh from victory over Roddick in the final of last week's Legg Mason Classic, advanced with a 6-2 7-5 success over Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the seventh seed, saw off Germany's Rainer Schuettler 4-6 6-3 6-4 and will play fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon in the third round after the ninth seed defeated Colombian Alejandro Falla 4-6 6-2 6-2.
Fernando Verdasco, the 10th seed from Spain, demolished Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 6-1 6-1, while 11th seed Fernando Gonzalez, from Chile, progressed when unseeded German Tommy Haas was forced to retire after Gonzalez had won the opening set 7-2 in a tie-break.
Stanislas Wawrinka dispatched Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 7-5 6-4 to book an all-Swiss third-round clash with top seed Roger Federer.
Wawrinka won the pair's previous meeting in Monte Carlo in April.
