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Olympic and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray picked up where he left off in Rio by drubbing Argentina's Juan Monaco to take his place in the third round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Murray, who with his gold medal triumph at the Rio Games became the first player to repeat as Olympic singles champion, notched his 19th successive match victory by a 6-3, 6-2 margin in what amounted to a nice workout for the 29-year-old Scotsman.
The Wimbledon winner scored the first break of the opening set in the eighth game and served out the set.
After seemingly enjoying the long rallies, Murray had his right shoulder massaged on the changeover before the second set and rattled off four games in a row from 1-1 to turn it into a rout.
His victory set up a third-round match against South African Kevin Anderson with a berth in the quarter-finals at stake.
Top-seeded Murray's victory was in contrast to numerous big battles in the US Open run-up event and a slew of tiebreakers.
Third-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal, winner of gold in the Olympic men's doubles, avenged a defeat to Pablo Cuevas in February with a 6-1, 7-6(4) win over the Uruguayan.
Fourth seed Milos Raonic of Canada won a heavy artillery battle with John Isner 7-6(5) 7-6(5) for his first win after three career losses to the American.
Raonic said he had just spent 10 days in New York working with John McEnroe.
Seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France enjoyed his own double tiebreaker win over American Reilly Opelka 7-6(5), 7-6(3).
Second-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka overcame 18-year-old American wild card Jared Donaldson 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match carried over from rainy Tuesday and will next face his doubles partner Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Tiebreakers decided two three-set encounters.
Borna Coric, 19, of Croatia came back from 2-5 in a climactic decider against Australian Nick Kyrgios by winning five of the last six points to claim the tiebreak 8-6.
Kyrgios showed his displeasure after dropping an opening set tiebreaker by smashing three rackets during the changeover.
Next up for Coric is Nadal.
Steve Johnson, who with one more victory would leapfrog Isner to become the top-ranked American player, prevailed over France's Julien Benneteau 3-6 6-2 7-6(5).
Olympic bronze medallist and fifth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, like Murray, took an easier route with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
Angelique Kerber took a confident first step on a path that could lead her to the top of the world rankings with a straight sets victory over Kristina Mladenovic at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Wednesday.
The German world number two, fresh off claiming a silver in the women's singles at the Rio Olympics, stormed through the opening set then fought off her gritty French opponent to post a 6-0 7-5 second-round triumph.
A victory in the hardcourt warm-up event for the US Open, the year's final grand slam, would lift Australian Open champion Kerber past the absent Serena Williams as world number one.
Joining Kerber, who was beaten by Williams in last month's Wimbledon final, in the third round was the in-form third seed Simona Halep.
The Romanian ran her winning streak to 11 as she brushed aside German qualifier Annika Beck 6-3, 6-1, showing off her improved serve with seven aces after a downpour delayed the start of play for a couple of hours at the rain-plagued event.
"I'm really happy I'm back here in Cincinnati, I have great memories from last year. I played very good tennis today and I'm really happy with my game," said Halep, the runner-up last year, who is coming off titles in Bucharest and Montreal.
French Open champion Garbine Muguruza started slowly against American Coco Vandeweghe before the Spaniard rolled to an easy victory after a tight opening set in a 7-6(4), 6-2 second-round triumph that marked her first win in Cincinnati.
