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Andy Murray

 

Andy Murray, who is trying to become Britain’s most winningest player ever, defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the third round of the Indian Wells tournament Monday.

The two-time Grand Slam winner Murray clinched the victory on his first match point when the German hit a forehand wide.

He finished with six aces and broke Kohlschreiber four times in the one hour, 50 minute match on centre court.

“He played better in the second set and I felt like I served better in the third set. I did well at the end to keep it going,” Murray said.

Murray advances to the fourth round where he will square off against France’s Adrian Mannarino.

Murray now has 495 wins and is just two shy of passing Tim Henman for the most career singles wins in the Open Era. He also needs just five more victories to join the 500 wins club.

Murray opened his season by reaching the Australian Open final where he lost to Serb star Novak Djokovic.

World number five Kei Nishikori rallied to beat Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in a scrappy third round match that went three sets.

Nishikori beat the Spaniard 6-7 (6/8), 6-1, 6-4 to move through to the fourth round where he will face either Feliciano Lopez of Spain or Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.

Nishikori, who holds the record for being the highest ranked Asian player in ATP Tour history, is enjoying his best ever result in Indian Wells after reaching the fourth round for the first time in his seventh appearance.

Nishikori is having a superb 2014 having reached the quarter-finals or better in all four tournaments before coming to the California desert.

He won his eighth career title in Memphis, made it to the final in Acapulco, the semi-finals in Brisbane and the quarters in the Australian Open.

Nishikori said he didn’t play his best tennis Monday but at least he battled through the difficult moments.

“It was really close match,” Nishikori said. “I was struggling with his serve. He mixed it up really well; flat, spin, kick serve. Sometimes I didn’t know where the ball was going.

“Usually I return well, but not today. That’s why I was struggling a little.”

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who is looking to regain her form after missing time on the WTA Tour with an injury, defeated CoCo Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-2.

The world number seven advances to the fourth round where she will face Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

“She has a lot of great weapons,” Bouchard said of American Vandeweghe. “I was able to neutralize them and step in and play my game.”

In other matches Monday, Swiss 31st seed Belinda Bencic scored the first big upset of the tournament by beating fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-4, 6-4. – Agence France-Presse

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