Murray overcomes bout of nerves to advance

Andy Murray went 3-1 down in the first set before composing himself (GETTY IMAGES)

Andy Murray admitted he had to fight to retain his composure during a difficult first set before he eventually eased to a 6-4, 6-1 victory against David Nalbandian, winning nine out of the last 10 games, in the Cincinnati Masters last night.

The 24-year-old endured a jittery start, going 3-1 down, in his first singles match since his miserable defeat by Kevin Anderson in Montreal last week. However, he imposed himself to move into the third round where he will face qualifier Alex Bogomolov who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last night.

Murray admitted it had been testing and said: "I felt tight early on. Obviously, I want to start playing my best tennis but the most important thing now is to try and get as many matches as possible before the US Open. I didn't want to have another first-round loss.

"I stayed calmer towards the end of the first set when I started to move a bit better but earlier on I was definitely tight and that is something I'm trying to work on and stay a bit more composed."

Rafael Nadal beat France's Julien Benneteau 6-4, 7-5 despite having to play with two bandaged fingers on his right hand after burning them on a hot plate at a restaurant in Ohio. "I got burned. I had a little bit of accident in a restaurant a few days ago," Nadal said. "The plate was very, very hot."

Meanwhile, Serena Williams has withdrawn from the women's singles after aggravating a right toe injury. The world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki, watched by boyfriend Rory McIlroy, suffered a shock 6-4, 7-5 defeat to 19-year-old American wild card Christina McHale. The defeat was the first time Wozniacki lost to an opponent outside the top 75 since 2009 and extends a worrying spell of form for the Dane.