Shanghai, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Two-time champion Andy Murray notched an opening-round victory Tuesday at the $4 million Shanghai Masters tennis event.
The 11th-seeded British star handled Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 7-5 in the first round on the hardcourts at Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena.
"I started the match well, he wasn't in much of a rhythm at the beginning," Murray said. "I was dictating a lot of the points. I was using good variety. At the beginning of the second set, I played a sloppy game on my serve. He gained some confidence from that and started playing better. He was timing the ball a lot better in the second set. I just had to find a way to get through in the end. I used smart tactics at the end of the set. I started using the variety again. It was a good start for me, but some work to be done."
Murray, who titled in Shenzhen, China two weeks ago, titled in Shanghai in 2010 and 2011 and was the runner-up here in 2012.
Day 3 upsets came when Russian Mikhail Youzhny routed 12th-seeded Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-1 and China's Chuhan Wang stunned 15th-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in the first round, while Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin mauled 16th-seeded South African Kevin Anderson 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
Another second-round result saw 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic top Taiwan's Yen- Hsun Lu 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
American Steve Johnson defeated Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in opening-round play.
Other first-round wins came for Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Julien Benneteau, Croat Ivan Dodig, Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, Argentine Leonardo Mayer, Poland's Jerzy Janowicz, Slovak Martin Klizan, and Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
On Wednesday, 10 of this week's top-11 seeds will take to the courts for second-rounders, including Serbian stalwart Novak Djokovic, second-seeded former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, the great Roger Federer, Australian Open champ Stan Wawrinka, Japanese star and last week's Tokyo titlist Kei Nishikori, and Murray.
The world No. 1 Djokovic is undefeated in his last 10 matches in Shanghai and will look to lift the trophy here for the third year in a row. Already a Masters winner in Indian Wells, Miami and Rome this season, the 27-year-old star is chasing his 20th Masters title. He dismantled Tomas Berdych for the China Open championship last week.
Djokovic beat Juan Martin del Potro in last year's Shanghai finale.
Nadal will play this week despite battling appendicitis, for which he is taking antibiotics.
He began feeling pain in his abdomen on Saturday, and the next day went to a hospital where he learned he had the early stages of appendicitis.
Nadal said opted for antibiotics rather than undergo surgery right away.
The French Open champion said the risk of his condition getting any worse after three days of steady improvement "is always very, very low."
"I am not going to go for surgery. That's great news for me today. That's why I'm here practicing for 45 minutes, and trying to play tomorrow. But obviously I am not in my best condition," Nadal said.
Nadal said he will talk with his doctors when he returns to Spain after Shanghai about whether he'll need to have the appendix removed.
Nadal will face his fellow Spaniard Lopez on Wednesday.
This week's big winner will collect $798,450.
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