Rampant Murray leads the way

Defending champion Andy Murray moved into the third round of the Cincinnati Masters with a 7-6(3) 6-2 victory over Jose Almagro.

The 22-year-old was pushed in the first set as his Spanish opponent produced some fierce hitting but it was the world number two who reacted better to a rain delay and booked a place in the third round against Radek Stepanek, who defeated Marat Safin.

Murray won the Rogers Cup title in Montreal on Sunday, and leapfrogged Rafael Nadal into the world's top two, with only Roger Federer now ahead of him.

Federer himself held off a challenge in the second set to defeat Jose Acasuso 6-3 7-5 at the Cincinnati Masters in what was an ideal second-round workout for the Swiss.

Despite Acasuso's relentless attack, it was Federer's all-round game of both defence and attack that saw him triumph in one hour and 10 minutes to earn a tie with David Ferrer.

Nadal was made to work for his win over Italy's Andreas Seppi, who forced tie-breaks in both sets of the Spaniard's 7-6(4) 7-6(3) win.

Novak Djokovic was first on Centre Court and the fourth seed prevailed 7-6(5) 6-4 in a close match against Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.

Seventh seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and fifth seed Andy Roddick were the day's major casualties.

Tsonga went down 7-6 (14-12) 6-2 to qualifier Chris Guccione and Roddick fell just short to lose 7-6(11) 7-6(3) in a tight all-American contest.

Paul-Henri Matthieu edged out Ivo Karlovic who could not reproduce the form which saw him beat Gael Monfils in the previous round.

The Frenchman triumphed 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 after taking advantage of his one break of serve.

Number eight seed Nikolay Davydenko progressed after a three-setter with Igor Kunitsyn, and an unseeded Leyton Hewitt eased past Benjamin Becker 6-3 6-3.

Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 7-5 6-3, Julien Benneteau bested Jurgen Melzer 6-2 3-6 6-2 and Jeremy Chardy saw off American John Isner.

Tomas Berdych was a 7-6(8) 6-7(7) 6-4 winner over Philipp Petzschner.