Monaco fails to produce another Argentine shock in Rio tennis

Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Argentine Juan Martin del Potro stunned world number one Novak Djokovic in the opening round of the Olympic tennis but compatriot Juan Monaco never looked like repeating the feat against Andy Murray on Tuesday.

Briton Murray had little difficulty in dispatching Monaco 6-3, 6-1 in Tuesday‘s second round in Rio as he maintained his superb run of recent form.

Murray is seeded second but, fresh from his Wimbledon triumph last month and unbeaten in 14 since losing the French Open final, is strongly tipped for gold with Djokovic gone.

"It‘s obviously surprising but Del Potro is a great, great player when he‘s fit," Murray said."He hasn‘t been fit in the last few years, that‘s the reason it was a first-round draw.

"Unfortunately for Novak that he came obviously playing extremely well."

Monaco rarely threatened to match Del Potro‘s upset though he did break Murray in the first set to level at 2-2. Murray responded immediately with another break of his own and easily saw out the set.

The second rubber even simpler for the world number two as a pair of early breaks brought a 4-0 lead and left Monaco heading for the exit.