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Ferrer, Murray move on; Berdych vanquished in Valencia
Published February 05, 2015
Valencia, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Top seed and three-time champion David Ferrer and former titlist Andy Murray notched opening-round wins, while second seed Tomas Berdych was an upset victim Wednesday at the $1.9 million Valencia Open tennis event.
The veteran Spanish crowd favorite Ferrer handled Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-5 on the indoor hardcourts at The City of Arts and Sciences.
The three-time champion and two-time runner-up Ferrer was last year's Valencia runner-up to Russian Mikhail Youzhny, and last year's French Open runner-up Ferrer was last week's Vienna runner-up to the surging Murray.
The hot third-seeded Murray mauled veteran Austrian left-hander Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-3 on Day 3.
The two-time Grand Slam champion Murray was a Valencia titlist in 2009.
Berdych, meanwhile, was sent packing by Spaniard Pablo Andujar, 6-3, 6-2. The big Czech was fresh off his title in Stockholm last week.
An upset came in the second round on Wednesday when wild card and promising Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta took out fourth-seeded fellow countryman Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4, while another second-rounder saw former top-10 Spaniard Tommy Robredo douse Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-2, 6-4.
Seventh-seeded South African Kevin Anderson reached the quarterfinals via walkover when Slovak Martin Klizan pulled out of the draw, citing a wrist injury, on Wednesday.
In some other first-round action, sixth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut humbled Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-4 and Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci dismissed the defending Valencia champ Youzhny 7-5, 6-3. Bautista Agut was a runner-up in Moscow last week.
On Thursday, Ferrer will tangle with 2004 Valencia champion and fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and Murray will take on Italian Fabio Fognini in the round of 16.
The 2014 champion here will claim $500,000.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/ferrer-murray-move-on-berdych-vanquished-in-valencia