Tokyo, Japan – Second-seeded Andy Murray and fourth seed Mardy Fish were among Wednesday's winners at the $1.1 million Japan Open Tennis Championships.
The 2011 Australian Open runner-up Murray snuck past former Aussie Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4 in opening-round action on the hardcourts at Ariake Colosseum. Baghdatis was last week's runner-up in Kuala Lumpur.
Murray needed just over two-and-a-half hours to move on, which he did with the help of eight aces. The Brit advanced despite having his serve broken four times by the dangerous Baghdatis, who still holds a winning record (3-2) against Murray.
"He is a tough guy to play against," Murray said. "He has a big serve. He can hurt you in many ways on the court."
The world No. 4 Murray is fresh off his hardcourt title in Bangkok last week and has now won 15 of his last 16 matches, including an ATP Masters title in Cincinnati.
Fish reached the quarterfinals here with a 6-2, 6-4 handling of inconsistent Latvian Ernests Gulbis. The talented American will meet rising Aussie Bernard Tomic in Friday's quarterfinals.
Third-seeded David Ferrer had his second-round match postponed on Wednesday because of rain in Tokyo. The gritty Spaniard, who titled in Tokyo in 2007, will now face Aussie Matthew Ebden on Thursday.
In other second-round action on Day 3, seventh-seeded Czech veteran Radek Stepanek snuck past Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 and Tomic came from behind to disappoint the Japanese faithful with a 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 7-5 victory over Tatsuma Ito.
One other first-round match saw Russian Dmitry Tursunov take out sixth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (3-7), 7-5. Tipsarevic was fresh off his first-ever ATP title in Kuala Lumpur last week.
In addition to Ferrer on Thursday, second-round matches will also come for top-seeded and defending Tokyo champion Rafael Nadal and Murray. The French Open champion and U.S. Open and Wimbledon runner-up Nadal will meet on-the- mend Canadian slugger Milos Raonic, while Murray will encounter American Alex Bogomolov Jr. Raonic returned to action this week after being sidelined for three months with a hip injury.
Nadal topped Gael Monfils in last year's Tokyo finale.
The 2011 Tokyo titlist will collect $295,000.
