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Reuters 18y

UPDATE 2-Tennis-Murray downs Monfils at Hamburg Masters

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BERLIN, May 16 - Britain's Andy Murray upset
in-form Gael Monfils of France in the first round of the Hamburg
Masters on Tuesday, winning 6-4 6-1 in the battle of the
teenagers.

It was the pair's first meeting and came after world number
29 Monfils reached the semi-finals of last week's Rome Masters
where he lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal of Spain.

Murray, ranked 46 in the world, hasn't progressed beyond the
second round in any of his last six tournaments but said he had
played one of his best matches on clay on Tuesday in windy
conditions at the Am Rothenbaum.

"If I win against a guy who is making the semis of a Masters
Series, and beating him 6-4 6-1, there is obviously not that
much that I can do better," said Murray, who celebrated his 19th
birthday on Monday.

"But today it was tough. It was very windy. When the sun
came out, the shadow was covering half of the court which made
it very tough to return from one of the sides.

"He was obviously very confident after making the semis last
week. But I played the right way."

Monfils, also 19, did not blame the wind for his defeat.

"Yes, it was difficult. But that was not the reason. The
reason is that today, for me, it was a very bad day. I think I
wasn't clear on the court. It's not how I was playing, but how I
was thinking."

Scot Murray plays James Blake in the second round. The
American number five seed scored a fine win over former French
Open champion Carlos Moya of Spain on Monday in their
first-round clash.

In other matches on Tuesday, fourth seeded Russian Nikolay
Davydenko came through 6-3 6-4 against Chile's Nicolas Massu,
while Massu's compatriot and the number seven seed, Fernando
Gonzalez, beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4 6-3.

FEDERER, NADAL FATIGUE

Nadal and world number one Roger Federer pulled out of the
Hamburg tournament citing fatigue after their five-set final on
Sunday that lasted more than five hours.

"It was a very tough decision but I had to fight hard from
the quarter-finals on in Rome and I really am very tired,"
Federer told spectators on centre court on Tuesday.

"I could have risked injuring myself, so with a heavy heart
I decided against playing."

The tournament now has its weakest line up in years, with
only five of the world's top 10 involved. Argentina's David
Nalbandian, Andy Roddick of the U.S. and Australia's Lleyton
Hewitt had already withdrawn.

Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, number five in the world, is now
the highest-ranked player in the event.

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