Image courtesy of blog.taragana.com

Murray, Blake and Lopez advance at Farmers ClassicAndy Murray had to overcome a little bit of a struggle in his debut in Los Angeles when he played his 2nd round match against Tim Smyczek, an American qualifier, on Thursday with 6-1, 4-6 and 6-2.

In the first round, Murray was granted a bye. But he had to work much harder in his first match since his Wimbledon semifinal loss to Rafael Nadal.

Smyczek managed to tie in sets and had a good start into the third. But then Murray took control over the match, broke his opponent and went on to win.

Feliciano Lopez beat Dudi Sela (Israel) in two sets with 7-6, 6-4 and will now play American James Blake who won in a close match over Benjamin Becker (7-5, 7-6).

Novak Djokovic was scheduled to play, but withdrew last week.

The Farmers Classic hard court tournament is a popular milestone for the players to test their form for the final event of the season, the upcoming U.S. Open in August.

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