Murray, Ferrer advance at Valencia

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Two favorites, top-seeded Andy Murray and reigning champion David Ferrer, advanced in Tuesday's opening round of the Valencia Open in Spain.

Murray dispatched Spanish wild card Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-1, taking only an hour to finish the match. He broke Gimeno-Traver's serve five times in eight tries.

The fourth-ranked Murray didn't appear to be rusty after recovering from an injury to his left wrist and playing for the first time since dropping a fourth-round match at the U.S. Open. He'll next face Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

Ferrer defeated fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 in a rematch of last year's Valencia title match. Ferrer's win last year over Almagro prevented him from winning his third straight Valencia championship.

Also Tuesday, fifth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon downed Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-2, and sixth-seeded Gael Monfils of France had no trouble with Spain's Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2.

Seventh-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo got past Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus 6-0, 5-7, 6-3, and Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas downed Spanish crowd favorite Juan Carlos Ferrero 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.