James Best

Andy Murray advances to third round at Madrid Open

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MADRID — Top-ranked Andy Murray made his debut at the Madrid Open with a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win over wild card Marius Copil of Romania in the second round on Tuesday.

Murray broke serve once in each set and didn’t concede any break opportunities to the 104th-ranked Copil.

“When I started to control the points more towards the end of the first set and second set, I was hitting the ball pretty clean, creating a few chances,” Murray said. “I didn’t give him any opportunities. It was good for the first match.”

Murray won the Madrid title in 2008 and 2015 and was runner-up to Novak Djokovic last year. He improved to 11-0 in his opening matches in the Spanish capital, dating back to his debut in 2006.

The British player has been trying to regain his form after a difficult start to the year.

“I still think there’s a ways to go,” Murray said. “I don’t think I’m playing perfectly just now. I think there’s just things I can definitely do better.”

Eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria advanced to the third round by defeating Jared Donaldson of the United States 6-3, 6-4, while ninth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium had nine aces on his way to a 7-6 (3), 6-0 win over Florian Mayer of Germany, setting up a third-round match against either fifth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada or Gilles Muller of Luxemburg, who defeated German Tommy Haas 6-4, 7-6 (7).

Ivo Karlovic of Croatia needed more than three hours to snap a five-match losing streak with a thrilling 7-6 (4), 6-7 (9), 7-6 (6) win over Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. The big-serving Karlovic had 35 aces and saved four match points in their second-round match.

American Ryan Harrison had 15 aces to defeat Australian Bernard Tomic 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, setting up a second-round encounter against 16th-seeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia.

Defending men’s champion Djokovic will debut against Nicolas Almagro of Spain on Wednesday. Four-time champion Rafael Nadal will play his opening match against Fabio Fognini on the same day.

In the women’s draw, third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania defeated Italian Roberta Vinci 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (2), while 16th-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia beat Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-3, 7-5.

Slovenia’s Jan Polanc wins fourth stage of Giro d’Italia

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MOUNT ETNA, Italy (AP) Slovenian rider Jan Polanc won stage four of the Giro d’Italia on the summit of Mount Etna on Tuesday.

The UAE Team Emirates rider, who also won a mountain stage in the 2015 race, took a solo victory ahead of Ilnur Zakarin of Russia on the stage from Cefalu.

Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas won a sprint to take third place and moved into second place overall.

Quick-Step rider Bob Jungels became the overall leader by six seconds.

Alexander Zverev beats Guido Pella to win BMW Open title in Munich

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MUNICH (AP) Alexander Zverev defeated Argentine qualifier Guido Pella 6-4, 6-3 to win the BMW Open and his first title on home soil Sunday.

The 20-year-old Zverev fired eight aces and converted three of eight break points to win in 1 hour, 12 minutes for his third career title.

The 158th-ranked Pella was bidding to become the first qualifier to win the Munich title since Martin Klizan in 2014. It was his second ATP Tour final after losing to Pablo Cuevas in Rio de Janeiro last year.

The third-seeded Zverev, who won in St. Petersburg last year and took his second title in Montpellier in February, lost his only other final in Germany to compatriot Florian Mayer in Halle last year.