Andy Murray thanked fans for taking off — or skipping — work to watch him play in the DC Open on a Wednesday afternoon.
His vintage performance made it worth it.
Cheered loudly by the crowd at stadium court, the three-time Grand Slam champion and former top-ranked men’s player rallied to win the first-set tiebreak and beat American Brandon Nakashima 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
Photo: AFP
It was his first win in Washington since 2018, a low point of Murray’s career when fatigue caused him to withdraw and he did not want to play tennis anymore.
The British star has no such issues now and showed clearly that at 36 he has still got it.
“It’s nice to be back and not having any of those issues, and being pain-free and still competing at a high level,” Murray said. “It’s been a long journey these last four or five years, but I’m happy to still be going.”
Photo: AFP
Murray is still going at this hard-court tune-up for the US Open after coming back from 5-2 down in the tiebreak. He sliced shots perfectly over the net and returned some strong volleys that Nakashima could not handle.
Fans yelled: “I love you Andy” and chanted: “Let’s go, Andy, let’s go” to boost him throughout the match, which he took over by breaking Nakashima to start the second set.
“I wanted to try to get off to a quick start, put the pressure on him right at the beginning of the second,” Murray said. “You’ve got to work very hard for the win and I did that today.”
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY
Next up for Murray is top-seeded Taylor Fritz, who defeated fellow American Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3.
On stadium court following Murray’s victory, the women’s side of the draw took center stage with seventh-ranked Coco Gauff beating Washington native Hailey Baptiste.
In what she calls a rebuilding period after adding coach Brad Gilbert to her team, Gauff worked through some tough stretches to win 6-1, 6-4.
Gauff said she has known Baptiste since she was 10 years old and was happy to face her in a matchup of two young women who had not played each other as professionals.
“Growing up, there wasn’t a lot of us, and we obviously gravitated to people that had the similar experiences as each other, so I gravitated to being friends with her,” Gauff said. “I told her at the net: ‘Hopefully we can have many more opportunities like this in the future.’”
Gauff, 19, spent most of her on-court interview following the match praising Baptiste, who is just 21.
“I’ve been telling her she’s really talented,” Gauff said. “I was playing good tennis, but I think she could be top 50, at least, and even higher by the end of next year.”
Gauff advanced to the quarter-finals, where she faces 15th-ranked Belinda Bencic, who beat American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-4.
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina improved to 8-0 against Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, beating her 6-2, 6-2 in their first matchup since the French Open.
Svitolina faces either fourth-ranked Jessica Pegula or alternate Peyton Stearns in the quarters.
Pegula, the tournament’s top seed, is to play Stearns on stadium court.
Taiwan’s top women’s badminton doubles duo, Hsieh Pei-shan (謝沛珊) and Hung En-tzu (洪恩慈), achieved a straight-sets victory over Japan’s Kaho Osawa and Mayui Tanabe at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 Macau Open on Sunday. The Taiwanese pair won the final 21-18, 21-12, marking the duo’s second title this year after their win at the BWF Super 300 Taipei Open in May. The match on Sunday was their first encounter with the Japanese duo, ranked No. 63 in the world. Hsieh and Hung, ranked No. 12, began the opening game well. Hung, who plays left-handed, performed strongly at both the net and the
Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko upset top-seeded Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday night to reach the National Bank Open quarter-finals. “Your support was incredible,” Mboko told the crowd in French after a chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole” chants echoed around the venue. “I’m really happy to win today ... It’s incredible. I’m so happy to beat such a great champion.” Gauff dropped to 2-3 since winning the French Open. She followed the major victory with opening losses in Berlin and Wimbledon, then overcame double-fault problems to win two three-set matches in Montreal. Gauff had five double-faults on Saturday after having 23 in
Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen on Thursday said that he is staying with the Red Bull team next year, ending months of speculation over his future. “Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama, but, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year,” the four-time champion said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “I’m discussing with the team already the plans — the things that we want to change for next year, so that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” he said. Verstappen has a contract with
Alex Michelsen on Thursday rallied for a 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 upset victory over third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles, converting his seventh match point to reach the fourth round of the Canadian Open. Michelsen reached the last 16 of a Masters 1000 for the first time with his second win over a top-10 player in eight attempts. The 20-year-old American survived nearly 50 unforced errors and converted just two of nine break chances, but it was enough to vanquish Italy’s Musetti, a two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist ranked 10th in the world. “It feels really good,” the 26th-ranked Michelsen said. “I’ve put
RSS