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Murray rebounds against crowd favorite

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Andy Murray stood in the middle of the Stadium Court as the heat pounded down in his first match at the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday.

Murray, the fourth-ranked player in the world who has defeated Roger Federer in four consecutive matches, was down a set to unheralded Argentine Juan Monaco because he couldn't find his rhythm or first serve. The sun was in his eyes, but he was now focused because the crowd was chanting for his 59th-ranked opponent.

"If you have someone against you, it just makes it a little easier to get fired up," said the fourth-seeded Murray, who pulled out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory to advance to a third-round match against Nicolas Massu. "I realized that I'm in a fight here."

Other than Murray's tussle, most of the seeded men went according to plan, as Australian Open and Indian Wells winner Rafael Nadal, who started his first Sony Ericsson as the world's No. 1 player, coasted to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.

Mardy Fish, the third highest-ranked American at No. 27, and winner of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, suffered a disappointing loss to Massu 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

American Bobby Reynolds used his big serve to take an ill No. 18 Radek Stepanek to the brink before losing 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-2.

No. 11 David Ferrer took three sets to overcome the 6-foot-9 American qualifier John Isner 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

No. 14 David Nalbandian was the only minor upset, losing to Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-3. No. 8 Fernando Verdasco lost his serve three times, but converted 5 of 8 break-point chances to defeat German qualifier Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4.

"It was tough conditions. It's windy," Verdasco said. "I missed one ball long thinking that the wind was coming against me and then the palm [trees] are looking the other way again. It was changing a lot ... it's really tough. You make more mistakes than usual."

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