Andy Murray overcame the loss of the second set to edge past French qualifier Pierre Hugues Herbert 6-2 4-6 6-3 in their first head-to-head match on a sunny and warm day in the Monte-Carlo Country Club.
Murray clinched the first set 6-2 when Herbert hit his forehand long. The Frenchman, who won two consecutive doubles titles with Nicolas Mahut at Indian Wells and Miami, hit 14 winners to break three times in the second set and hit a volley at the net to seal the 45-minute second set forcing the match to the third set.
Murray bounced back in the third set when he produced a fine backhand drop volley in the fourth game to break serve to love for 3-1. The Dunblane star hit an ace to consolidate the break for 4-1 after a eight-minute fifth game. The World Number 2 faced a break point as he was serving at 4-2 in the seventh game but he fended it off with an ace. Murray won his next service game when Herbert hit his return into the net. Murray never looked back and sealed the win after 2 hours and six minutes.
Murray will face either Frenchman Benoit Paire or Joao Sousa.
Murray and his partner Dom Inglot reached the second round in the doubles tournament after beating Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers 6-3 6-4 on Monday. Murray and Inglot will play against Edouard Roger Vasselin and Nenad Zimonjic in the next round.
Gilles Simon is the first player to qualify for the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters after beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-3 on the clay courts of the Monte-Carlo Country Club. Simon beat Dimitrov for the fifth time in six head-to-head matches in his career (the Bulgarian player took his only head-to-head match against the Frenchman in Brisbane last January).
In the first set Simon fought back from a break down at 2-3 by winning four consecutive games. At 5-4 Simon broke serve to love to close out the first set. The French player won four consecutive games from 2-2 in the second set with a break in the fifth game.
Simon is projected to play against 2014 Monte-Carlo champion Stan Wawrinka. Simon achieved his best result in 2012 when he reached the semifinal (losing to Rafa Nadal).
