Murray, Henman advance in Madrid Masters

Britain's Tim Henman and Andy Murray defeated Spaniards in straight sets to advance to the second round of the Madrid Masters.

Britain's Tim Henman and Andy Murray defeated Spaniards in straight sets to advance to the second round of the Madrid Masters on Monday.

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Henman, needing a wild card to make the main draw, beat hometown player Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-3, to set up a fixture against another Spaniard, 15th-ranked David Ferrer.

Murray dispatched qualifier Ivan Navarro Pastor 6-2, 6-4 in his Madrid debut. Elsewhere, former French Open champs Carlos Moya and Gaston Gaudio both lost.

Henman, the runner-up in Tokyo just over a week ago, saved all five break points he faced against Verdasco.

Murray broke Navarro Pastor three times, setting up a match with third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, the runner-up last year. Ljubicic won the BA-CA Trophy in Vienna on Sunday.

"The best part of his game is obviously his serve," Murray said of Ljubicic. "Return is the best part of my game - it should be an interesting match. If I play well I've got a chance, but I'm definitely not expected to win."

Gaudio took the first set from Nicolas Massu, but after he lost the second he retired with a stomach injury, surprising the Chilean. "I didn't know anything was wrong with him until he came up to me at the end of the second set and said he didn't feel good," said Massu, the 2003 finalist who faces top-ranked Roger Federer on Tuesday.

Also, Mardy Fish of the United States overcame 16 aces from Xavlier Malisse to beat the Belgian 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 and set up a second-round match against defending champion Rafael Nadal; Sebastian Grosjean of France beat Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-4, 7-5 for the fourth time in five meetings; Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand downed Gorka Fraile of Spain 6-2, 6-2; Julien Benneteau of France routed Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-2, 6-1; and Agustin Calleri of Argentina advanced with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over Florent Serra of France.