Murray off to sluggish start in Valencia

Valencia, Spain: Spaniard David Ferrer's late push for a place in the ATP tour finals got off to a laboured start with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Valencia Open on Tuesday.

Earlier, top seed Andy Murray survived a second set wobble to kick off his title defence with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

Ferrer, the world No 8, is fighting for one of three remaining places at the season-ending ATP Tour finals in London this month.

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Murray and Robin Soderling have qualified, while Ferrer and Mikhail Youzhny, both playing in Valencia, have a good chance of claiming berths.

Fourth seed Ferrer had to come back from a break down in the third set before prevailing in the cavernous clam-shaped Agora building in Valencia's modernistic ‘City of Arts and Sciences.'

"The first game of a tournament is always harder than others because there is more pressure," Ferrer told the tournament website (www.valenciaopen500.com)

He will meet qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the second round.

Murray entered the tournament two weeks after beating Roger Federer in the Shanghai Masters final, but had problems on his backhand and trailed Lopez 4-1 in the second set.

After losing his serve, the world number four broke back and cruised through the tiebreak to win 7-1 to set up a meeting with Argentine Juan Monaco.

Results

Valencia Open men's singles (prefix denotes seedings): 6-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Javier Marti (Spain) 6-2, 6-2. 2-Robin Soderling (Sweden) beat Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-1, 6-4. 4-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3. Pablo Andujar (Spain) beat Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-4 3-6 1-1 (Tursunov retired). Potito Starace (Italy) beat Victor Hanescu (Romania) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. 1-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 7-6 (1). Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain) beat Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Basel ATP Indoors : Ist round: Marin Cilic (CRO x6) bt Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 6-3, 6-3. David Nalbandian (ARG) beat Jan Hajek (CZE) 6-3, 6-4. Viktor Troicki (SRB) beat Michael Berrer (GER) 6-3, 6-0. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) beat Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-2, 6-4. Santiago Giraldo (COL) beat Karol Beck (SVK) 6-2, 6-1. Richard Gasquet (FRA) beat Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) 6-3, 6-1. Novak Djokovic (SRB x2) beat Ernests Gulbis (LAT) 6-4, 6-2.