When Andy Murray tumbled to the court, clutching his right ankle, the top of the men’s draw at the Australian Open momentarily took on a new complexion.
Top-ranked Murray, a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, was yesterday leading his second-round match comfortably when his right shoe caught on the surface in the third game of the third set and he rolled awkwardly on the ground.
He continued and won that game, telling himself: “It’s not good news.”
Photo: EPA
He saw a trainer during the next change of ends, but decided he did not need any extra treatment on his already heavily strapped foot.
Murray went on to win 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 against No. 156-ranked Andrey Rublev, later saying: “It’s a little bit sore — not too serious.”
“I was moving OK toward the end, so that’s positive,” he said.
It was Murray’s 178th win in a Grand Slam match, joining Stefan Edberg at eighth on the list of match winners in the Open era. Rublev’s first-round win was his first in a major tournament.
Murray next faces No. 31 Sam Querrey, who had a 7-6 (7/5), 6-0, 6-1 win over 17-year-old wild card Alex De Minaur.
Roger Federer’s progress was more straightforward, defeating 20-year-old qualifier Noah Rubin 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) to maintain his record of never failing to reach the third round at the 18 Australian Opens he has contested.
Federer is to next face 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, who had a 6-3, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 win over Ryan Harrison.
Also looming, potentially, is No. 5 Kei Nishikori, the 2014 US Open finalist, who set up a third-round match against Lukas Lacko with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Jeremy Chardy.
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka advanced 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 over Steve Johnson and is to next play No. 29 Viktor Troicki in the lower quarter of the top half of the draw.
No. 19 John Isner, the highest-seeded US player in the men’s draw, lost to Mischa Zverev 6-7 (4/7), 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (9/7), 9-7 and followed Johnson, Rubin and Harrison out.
No. 7 Marin Cilic and No. 14 Nick Kyrgios were beaten in night matches.
Cilic lost in four sets to Daniel Evans, while No. 89-ranked Andreas Seppi rallied from two sets down and saved a match point to beat Kyrgios 1-6, 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-2, 10-8 in a seesawing match that featured a high-risk, between-the-legs shot from the enigmatic Australian.
In women’s singles, defending champion Angelique Kerber celebrated her 29th birthday with a 6-2, 6-7 (7/3), 6-2 second-round win over Carina Witthoeft.
Kerber planned to celebrate over dinner, then get back to work before tomorrow’s third-round match against Kristyna Pliskova, who beat No. 27 Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 7-6 (10/8).
Venus Williams had to field questions about getting older after an energetic performance in her 6-3, 6-2 win over Stefanie Voegele.
The 36-year-old, seven-time major winner played the first of her record 73 Grand Slam tournaments at the French Open in 1997.
“It’s an honor and privilege to start that young,” she said, laughing, “and play this old.”
French Open champion Garbine Muguruza beat Samantha Crawford 7-5, 6-4 in a night match, while Mona Barthel beat Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig.
In men’s doubles, Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun and Czech partner Jiri Vesely fell to Australians Marc Polmans and Andrew Whittington in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, while Taiwanese duo Hsieh Cheng-peng and Yang Tsung-hua were defeated by Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-1, 6-4.
In women’s doubles, Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan were defeated by China’s Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang 7-5, 6-2, while Chuang Chia-jung and American partner Nicole Gibbs fell 1-6, 5-7 to the US’ Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Czech Lucie Safarova.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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