VALENCIA, Spain (AP)—Andy Murray began his Valencia Open title defense with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez on Tuesday.
The top-seeded Murray broke Lopez in the fourth game of the match but had to rally from a 4-1 deficit in the second set. The Spaniard broke in the fourth game, but Murray took advantage of one of Lopez’s many unforced errors to break back and take it to the tiebreaker, where Lopez simply fell apart.
Fourth-seeded David Ferrer kept alive his hopes of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month, rallying for a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 win over fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Garcia-Lopez mixed up sharp groundstrokes and savvy net play to take the first set before Ferrer began to dictate play by taking advantage of his opponent’s 68 unforced errors.
Garcia-Lopez broke early to lead 2-0 in the second and third sets but couldn’t hold off the eighth-ranked Ferrer, who was more consistent over the whole match.
Earlier, Nicolas Almagro made an early exit after losing to fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Gimeno-Traver will play second-seeded Robin Soderling, who made quick work of Albert Montanes in a 6-1, 6-4 win.
Nikolay Davydenko made it five Spanish losers on the day with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Javier Marti. Juan Ignacio Chela, Potito Starace and Pablo Andujar were other first-round winners Tuesday.