Andy Murray clinched a spot in the ATP Finals on Thursday after beating Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets at the Paris Masters and then sent a message to his critics by scribbling “bad year” on a courtside television camera.
Following a tumultuous year that saw him change coach and recover from a serious back injury, Murray booked his spot at the season-ending tournament in London by reaching the quarter-finals at the Palais Omnisports with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 9 seed Dimitrov.
Before leaving the court, Murray signed “bad year” on a camera lens.
Photo: EPA
“It wasn’t a jibe [at critics], it’s a bit of fun,” he said about his autograph. “I mean, people are going to ask me all the time why I’ve had such a poor year by my standards. You’re allowed sometimes to say something in response to that. I don’t tend to do that often, but, look, it’s been a hard year, a tough year, but it hasn’t been a bad year.”
Up next for Murray is top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who withstood 12 aces before extending his unbeaten record against Gael Monfils to 11-0 with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) over the Frenchman.
Second-seeded Roger Federer kept the pressure on Djokovic in their battle for the year-end No. 1 spot, easily beating French qualifier Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Milos Raonic.
Photo: EPA
After missing last year’s season-ending tournament following surgery on his back, the eighth-seeded Murray pushed hard to qualify for the indoor event for the seventh straight year, winning three titles over the past five weeks.
Murray, who slipped from fourth in January to 12th in the rankings in September, reached the semi-finals at the French Open then failed to defend his Wimbledon crown, and had to wait until September to win his first title of the season at the Shenzhen Open in China.
He split with coach Ivan Lendl in March and hired Amelie Mauresmo after Roland Garros.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Murray said, after contesting his 22nd match in five weeks. “Coming back from surgery is not easy at all, and I learned that. The first few months of this year it was very difficult, and I had to dig deep at the end of this year in some ways to salvage the year, if you like. But it’s been a good year. Not been my best year, but I would’ve signed up for being in this position when I had the surgery last year, I think.”
The Scot was in control throughout against Dimitrov, losing only two points on his first serve as he took a measure of revenge following his loss to the Bulgarian player in the quarter-finals at the All England club this year.
Federer’s Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka failed to serve out his match, losing 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (3) to Kevin Anderson in a match lasting nearly three hours as the hard-hitting South African rallied to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time.
“I should have won,” said the Swiss, who has been hampered by a virus this week and coughed a lot during his press conference. “In the end, I made stupid mistakes, but I’m not panicking. I’m still [in the] top 4 in the world.”
Since his quarter-finals exit at the US Open, Wawrinka has won only two matches and travels to London with his form in question. Wawrinka is also teaming up with Federer in the Davis Cup final against France from Nov. 21 to 23 in Lille.
“This year I had ups and downs that were very high or very low,” added the Australian Open champion, who was two points from the match when leading 5-4, 30-0 in the decider. “But I wouldn’t change anything compared to any other year of my career. I can still play well in the Masters, win the Davis Cup, and the year will be fabulous.”
Anderson next faces Tomas Berdych, who stayed on course for qualifying for the finals for the fifth straight year by beating Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded David Ferrer, No. 6 seed Kei Nishikori and Raonic also kept alive their hopes of making it to London, by defeating Fernando Verdasco, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Roberto Bautista Agut respectively.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two