Manila Mavericks stars Murray, Sharapova advance in Australian Open

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Mavericks stars Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova had contrasting fates in the second round of the Australian Open while Daniel Nestor and Fil-Am Treat Huey won their opening round assignments in the men’s doubles with their respective partners.

World no. 6 Murray defeated homegrown player Marinko Matosevic in three sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. World no. 2 Sharapova, on the other hand, survived a scare from Russian Alexandra Panova, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

Nestor teamed up with Rohan Bopanna, who played for the inaugural International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) champion Indian Aces, and they cruised past Marcos Baghdatis and Matosevic in tough straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, to advance to the second round.

Huey, meanwhile, paired with Israeli  Jonathan Erlich had a hard time defeating Dusan Lajovic of Serbia and Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei in three sets, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.