On a sad and sombre day in Nottingham, sport in the aftermath and its outcomes may have rightly taken a back seat after the devastating news of a tragic event that occurred in the small hours of Tuesday morning, but tennis continued at Beeston Highfields for the Rothsay Nottingham Open and day two of the grass court event, the highlight including Andy Murray who beat Belgium\u2019s Joris De Loore in two straight sets.<\/p>\n
The Scot was in fine form to win 6-3, 6-4 setting up a second-round match against Frenchman Hugo Grenier (who beat German born Brit Jan Choinski 6-4, 6-4) but attention after his match for Murray, who himself was out in the city the previous evening, was reflective of the mood nationwide, in offering condolences to those affected after a man was arrested for killing three people and injuring at least three more.<\/p>\n
Murray stated \u201cIt was obviously shocking when I woke up this morning and when I was going down to breakfast a few messages on our team chat came up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are staying in the city centre and had been out for dinner last night and walking around those areas. You never expect something like that to happen, it was really shocking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know if it was going to affect anything here or not because the streets were closed this morning. Really shocking and obviously heart-breaking for the victims and the people involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Murray beat Grenier tomorrow, he\u2019ll play either Ryan Peniston (who beat Mattia Bellucci) and either Denis Kudla or Dominic Stricker who are yet to play their first round match, in the quarter finals scheduled for Friday.<\/p>\n
Other winners in the men\u2019s tournament on Tuesday saw Portugal\u2019s Nuno Borges beat Korean Chung Hyeon whilst China\u2019s Bu beat another Korean in Hong Seong-Chan to set up a match with Borges in the next round.<\/p>\n
The other half of the draw is now fully complete as Zachary Svajda beat Thanasi Kokkinakis in a three set thriller to reach round two where he\u2019ll play France\u2019s Arthur Cazaux who beat Yu-hsiou Hsu.<\/p>\n
There were wins for Brits Arthur Fery and George Loffhagen who play Dominik Koepfa and Juncheng Shan respectively in round two, whilst Canadian Gabriel Diallo beat Enzo Couacaud to set up a tie with American, Alex Michelsen who beat Aleksander Vukic to reach round two.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s event last seasons winner Beatriz Haddad Maia was surprisingly beaten in her first round match by Ukraine\u2019s Daria Snigur, she\u2019ll play Brit Katie Boulter who beat compatriot Emily Appleton to reach round two, three other Brits, Harriet Dart, Heather Watson and Jodie Burridge are also through to the second round.<\/p>\n