Murray saves match point; Serena cruises
NEW YORK: Serena Williams’ quest for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam got off the mark as Andy Murray rolled back the years with a vintage comeback at the US Open on Tuesday. Williams powered past 96th-ranked Kristie Ahn—her 102nd career US Open match win to break a tie with Chris Evert for the most in the pro era—after Murray came from two sets down to win a five-set thriller.
“I love my job. At the end of the day, I love what I do. I’ve always said, ‘You can’t do it forever,’” Serena said after delivering 13 aces and dropping only six points on her serve in her 7-5, 6-3 win. Serena had been 3-2 since tennis resumed after a hiatus—and all five went three sets. So Tuesday’s match was a welcome change. “It’s been years— since the ‘ 90s— since I won a match in straight sets,” Serena joked. “I’ve been playing a ton of tight matches,” she said. “I felt like, all right, I just wanted to be ‘Serena-focused’ from first point to the last point.”
Tuesday’s was the sort of match Murray came back for, the sort of competition he always lived for, the reason he went through two hip operations and all the hard work that followed. And it was the type of vintage Murray performance that was too compelling not to watch.
Playing his first Grand Slam match in nearly 20 months, toiling on his metal hip for 4 hours, 39 minutes, Murray put together his 10th career comeback from two sets down and beat Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-4.
“It was pretty emotional straight after the match finished, when I got back to the locker room—sort of look at my phone, see the messages from family and friends, the team and stuff,” said Murray, who next plays 15th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
On Wednesday, 2016 US Open champion Angelique Kerber beat Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-3, 7-6 (6) to enter the third round. However, last year’s French
Open finalist and 12th seed Marketa Vondrousova lost to Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-1, 6-2 in only 65 minutes.
Select 1st rd results: Men’s: Roberto Bautista (ESP x8) bt Tennys Sandgren (USA) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3); Andy Murray (SCO) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4), 6-4; Dominic Thiem (AUT x2) bt Jaume Munar (ESP) 7-6 (8/6), 6-3, 0-0 retired Women’s: Madison Keys (USA x7) bt Timea Babos (HUN) 6-1, 6-1; Garbine Muguruza (ESP x10) bt Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-4, 6-4; Serena Williams (USA x3) bt Kristie Ahn (USA) 7-5, 6-3; Karolina Muchova (CZE x20) bt Venus Williams (USA) 6-3, 7-5; Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS x21) bt Kim Clijsters (BEL) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. READ: A comparative study of Margaret Court and Serena Williams‘s careers.