TORONTO — Andy Murray battled some pain but showed no signs of an Olympic hangover as the gold medalist moved into the last 16 of the Toronto Masters, while a fatigued Juan Martin del Potro was one of five seeds ousted Wednesday. Murray, playing his first match since his triumph at the London Games Sunday, called out a trainer late in a 6-1, 6-3 win over Italian Flavio Cipolla, which he later attributed to a change of playing surfaces from grass to a hard court. “I feel on the grass courts the muscles get tired but the joints not so much, but on the hard courts the knees, ankles and hips take quite a fair pounding,” Murray, whose match was his first on a hard court since early March, told reporters. The Briton, who appeared to hurt himself while chasing down a forehand, occasionally rubbed his left knee and had about five minutes of massage on his left quadriceps while leading the final set 3-2. Still, the second seed, who is scheduled to face big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic in the third round, managed to chase down drop shots and held his serve throughout the 82-minute match. Defending champion Novak Djokovic cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Australian Bernard Tomic in 71 minutes, setting up a third-round match with American Sam Querrey, who upset 13th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-2, 6-3. Third seed Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the highest seeded player eliminated Wednesday, falling 6-4, 7-6 to compatriot Jeremy Chardy. Del Potro, whose Olympic semifinal loss to Roger Federer five days ago was the longest men's three-set match played in the professional era, admitted fatigue got the better of him during a 6-4, 7-6 defeat to Czech Radek Stepanek. “It's not easy to play after a big effort in the Olympics,” the sixth seeded Argentine told reporters. “Now I need time to recover my body if I want to stay healthy.” Del Potro, who was playing his first match since beating Djokovic for the bronze medal at the Olympics Sunday, also said he had no doubt he would be ready for the Aug. 27-Sept. 9 US Open, where he won his sole Grand Slam in 2009. In other action, fourth seed Tomas Berdych rallied for a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over Julien Benneteau in a match that lasted just over three hours, while ninth seed Gilles Simon fell 6-2, 6-2 to Germany's Tommy Haas. Fifth seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia was a 7-6, 6-4 winner over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic breezed by Greece's Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 6-3 and German 15th seed Florian Mayer fell 6-3, 6-4 to Spain's Marcel Granollers. Azarenka looks to protect top ranking Victoria Azarenka will play her first match since the London Olympics Thursday at the Montreal Cup with only one threat to her status as the world's top female player left in the draw. Both Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska came to Canada with a chance at uprooting Belarusian Azarenka, who will play Austrian Tamira Paszek in her opening match, from her perch atop the world rankings. But the sudden withdrawal of the Russian world No. 2 earlier Wednesday leaves only Radwanska, who will play German Mona Barthel in an early match Thursday, as a threat. For Radwanska to reach the top of the world rankings for the first time, she needs to win the $2 million tournament and hope Azarenka is eliminated before the quarterfinals. Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur, who was runner-up to Williams in this tournament last year, were both successful in their first matches at the event. Stosur overcame a 1-5 deficit and then three set points to claim the first set over Simona Halep 7-5. Then, after drawing level at 4-all in the second set, she progressed when her Romanian rival forfeited with a leg problem. Kvitova had a greater scare when within a game of losing to Ksenia Pervak. The 2011 Wimbledon champion trailed by a set and 5-6 before finding her form to defeat Pervak 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-0. Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard gave local fans their biggest thrill of the day when she upset Shahar Peer 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 to join compatriot Aleksandra Wozniak in the second round. The reigning junior Wimbledon champion, who trains in Montreal, started brilliantly when claiming the first nine points of the match before Peer steadied. But Bouchard, a powerful ball striker off both wings, continued to play aggressively and showed poise deep in the third set to set up a meeting with China's Li Na. — Agencies
