London, Aug 14 : Former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray advanced to the last 16 of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati after beating Portugal's Joao Sousa in straight sets.

Murray, who defeated the Portuguese 6-3, 6-3, broke Sousa in his opening service game and wrapped up victory in an hour and 11 minutes. Murray will now face American John Isner, last year's runner-up, in the next round.

Meanwhile, British number two James Ward lost 6-2 6-2 to France's Julien Benneteau in the second round.

Murray, who was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Rogers Cup quarterfinals in Toronto last week, said that he got the win and that's the most important thing, The BBC reported.

The number eight seed said that it is very different conditions here this week and a lot of the guys are struggling to control the ball, so he was happy to come through.

Qualifier Ward, who upset Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round, was broken twice in each set by world number 41 Benneteau, who will face Poland's Jerzy Janowicz in the last-16 now.

Janowicz won 6-4 3-6 6-3 against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov. Moreover eleventh seed Isner beat Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic 6-3 7-6, the report added. (ANI)