World No. 4 Andy Murray overcame a gutsy display from Russian Igor Kunitsyn to win 6-2 6-3 in a floodlit first-round encounter at the Dubai tennis championships.
After defending champion Novak Djokovic eased into today’s second round with a straight-sets victory, the Briton started slowly in his first match since losing the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, surviving two break points in the opening game.
The Russian’s high-energy approach disturbed a rusty Murray in an epic 24-minute second game which included 14 deuces.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Murray’s right knee was wrapped in an ice pack before the game and the Scot visibly slumped after failing to convert an eighth break point, but won at the ninth attempt for a 2-0 lead.
A long Kunitsyn forehand gave the 22-year-old the opening set after 58 minutes.
Murray double-faulted to lose the opening game of the second set but a brutal forehand winner gave him an immediate break back.
However, he remained frustrated by his inability to exploit Kunitsyn’s second serve, spinning his racket and talking under his breath.
A measured lob gave Kunitsyn break point at 2-2 but the Scot delivered an 11th ace, eventually holding serve.
Kunitsyn saved two break points in the next game, but a third was beyond him and Murray edged 4-2 in front.
Novak Djokovic survived a late scare to defeat Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-4. The crowd favorite was 5-0 ahead in the second set, before a determined Guillermo fought back to 5-4.
Djokovic raced into a 5-0 second-set lead, subduing his opponent with a torrent of powerful forehands, drop shots and astute net play.
Garcia-Lopez saved a match point as he broke Djokovic twice to reach 4-5. Roared on by a near-capacity crowd, Djokovic was stirred into action and although the Spaniard saved a second match point, the Serb ended the contest with a forehand down the line.
His win set up all a second round clash with Victor Troicki, who beat Rainer Schuettler 6-3 6-4.
Food poisoning could not stop Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis from defeating Gilles Simon 7-6, 6-4.
“I was concentrating on not throwing up on court,” he said.
Spain’s Feliciano Lopez suffered a shock 7-6 6-4 first-round defeat to qualifier Stefan Koubek.
■DELRAY BEACH
AP DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA
Top-seeded Tommy Haas suffered an upset loss to Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the first round of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Monday.
Gabashvili, who has been hampered by health issues over the past year, was playing in his third tournament of the year. It was only the second ATP Tour match he’s won since July.
The Russian was diagnosed with anemia and also had surgery to remove colon polyps in December.
Haas was trailing 5-3 in the opening set but fought back to a tiebreaker where he netted a backhand volley to lose the set.
In the second set, the 104th-ranked Gabashvili went ahead 2-0, but lost his serve in the third set.
Haas surrendered the match in the final game when he smacked a backhand into the net.
Despite twisting his ankle at 3-1 in the first set, Wayne Odesnik cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow American Rajeev Ram.
Kazakhstan’s Evgeny Korolev scored a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Brentford striker Yoane Wissa says he wants to leave the English Premier League club and that it is “unduly standing in my way.” A day before the end of soccer’s summer transfer period, Wissa posted a lengthy statement on social media yesterday criticizing Brentford for rejecting an apparent offer from another Premier League club despite his willingness to switch between the teams. Wissa, a reported target for Newcastle, is yet to play for Brentford this season and had already removed any association with the club from his Instagram account. Yesterday, the 28-year-old DR Congo international took it a step further on the social
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