Kyrgios provokes controversy as Nadal, Murray win

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[August 13, 2015]  (Reuters) - Australia's Nick Kyrgios courted more controversy with an off-color remark to his opponent Stan Wawrinka while Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal advanced in the second round in a day of upsets at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Wednesday.

Kyrgios, who is well known for his outbursts off court and profanity on it, made a jibe at Wawrinka during the second set of their match about the Swiss player's apparent girlfriend.

"Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend," Kyrgios was caught saying by television cameras in reference to his Davis Cup team mate Thanasi Kokkinakis. "Sorry to tell you that, mate."

It was unclear whether Wawrinka, who withdrew with a back injury in the third set while trailing 4-0, heard the jibe, though his coach Magnus Norman criticized the Australian on Twitter afterwards.

"That was really really low Nick Kyrgios," Norman wrote. "Hope for u that u have people around that will teach u a thing or 2 about life tonight. Very bad."

 

 

Number two seed Murray, who received a first-round bye, avoided the fate of so many other seeds, though he was extended by Spain's Tommy Robredo before coming through for a 6-4 7-5 win.

Robredo looked poised to force a second-set tiebreak, up 30-0 on serve at 5-6, only to lose four straight points and fall to the Scotsman.

The Spaniard made three consecutive mistakes to gift Murray match point, before the former U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion closed out the match after a 26-stroke rally with a drop shot that caught the top of the net and toppled over.

“Today was the best I hit the ball on the hardcourts since I started playing on it again,” said Murray, who was ousted in his first match in Washington last week on the same surface.

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“I felt like I was returning (serve) a little bit better, which is important for my game."

Next up for Murray is unseeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who beat 15th seed Gael Monfils of France in a third-set tiebreak 6-3 3-6 7-6(4).

Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga narrowly escaped a challenge by Roberto Bautista Agut 5-7 7-6 7-5.

Other seeds to fall were Czech Tomas Berdych (number five), Croatian Marin Cilic (six), Canadian Milos Raonic (eight), Frenchman Gilles Simon (nine) and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (14).

But seventh seed Nadal, in his first hardcourt appearance since March, showed few signs of rust as he used a dominating first serve to dust off Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 7-6 6-3.

Fourth seed Kei Nishikori also advanced with a 6-3 6-3 win over Spaniard Pablo Andujar.

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina and Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Larry Fine/Greg Stutchbury)

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