Andy Murray is showing signs of returning to his old form, right down to the return winner he delivered on the last point of his first victory over a top-20 player in more than a year.
Murray on Wednesday took a more aggressive approach as he works his way back from hip surgery, moving into the third round at the Citi Open by beating No. 4 seed Kyle Edmund 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-4.
Murray was sidelined for 11 months because of his right hip. He missed the second half of last year, had an operation in January, then returned to the tour briefly in June.
Photo: AFP
One of his three matches that month was a loss on a grass court to Edmund, the Australian Open semi-finalist who has supplanted Murray as Britain’s highest-ranked man.
There is still work to be done by Murray, of course. He is ranked 832nd, has played only five matches in 12 months and needed three sets for each of his victories in Washington’s hard-court tuneup for the US Open.
Unlike in his opening match on Monday, when he felt he was too defensive, Murray made a point of attacking more against Edmund.
“Regardless of the result, we wanted to at least be dictating more points, trying to use my forehand, be close to the baseline,” he said. “And I think I did that, especially in some of the important moments in the third set.”
Also moving into the third round was top seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev, and his next matchup is a rare one: Yesterday, he was to face his older brother, No. 15 seed Mischa, in their first meeting in an ATP main-draw match.
“It’s a special day, because not a lot of families can say two brothers played against each other on a such a high level in one of the biggest tournaments in the world,” said Alexander Zverev, who finished off a rain-interrupted 6-2, 6-1 win against Malek Jaziri. “Obviously, we both want to win. We won’t give each other anything.”
The German siblings, who were taught tennis by their father, paired up on Wednesday night as a doubles team until that match was suspended by a storm that washed out play for the day.
Seeded players exiting the draw included No. 5 Nick Kyrgios, who withdrew with a hip injury, along with No. 12 Karen Khachanov and No. 14 Jeremy Chardy, who both lost.
In the women’s singles, reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens continued her tendency for all-or-nothing showings at tournaments, losing 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round to world No. 91 Andrea Petkovic.
Stephens was seeded No. 2 at a tournament she won in 2015 for her first WTA title. Now she will want to get her game going in the right direction before she begins the defense of her first Grand Slam title on Aug. 27.
Her best results this season were a runner-up finish at the French Open and a title at the Miami Open, but take away those tournaments, and the American is 10-11 this year, including first-round exits at Wimbledon last month and the Australian Open in January.
Stephens’ loss leaves the women’s draw without either of its top two seeds, after No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki withdrew on Tuesday because of a leg injury.
In the first round of the women’s doubles, Taiwanese duo Chen Pei-hsuan and Wu Fang-hsien fell to a 2-6, 6-1, 10-5 defeat to third seeds Han Xinyun of China and Darija Jurak of Croatia.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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