Murray’s on march under big Citi lights
BY TED TRACEY ANDY MURRAY believes he overcame a big mental hurdle with a hard-fought comeback win over Mackenzie McDonald at the Citi Open.
The Scots star, playing for the first time since pulling out of Wimbledon, converted his seventh match point to clinch a three-set victory and set up a meeting with fellow Brit Kyle Edmund in Washington DC.
Murray had surgery on his right hip in January, only returning to action on June 18, losing to Aussie star Nick Kyrgios at Queen’s.
And he toiled for more than two and a half hours against world No.80 McDonald, eventually taking the match 3-6 6-4 7-5.
He said: “It was a tough, tough match. It could have gone either way and if you lose a match like that, it’s a tough one. When I lost to Teymuraz Gabashvili here three years ago, I lost serving for the match so I was thinking about that a little bit. It’s just nice to get through.
“I wasn’t dictating many of the points. I wasn’t hitting the ball that cleanly. I just fought and tried to make it tough for him.
“I made a few little adjustments here and there but mentally it was a big one to get through.”
The Citi Open is just Murray’s third tournament of the year and he faces Edmund, who beat him at Eastbourne, and admits he has to up his game.
He said: “I haven’t played in the darkness or under the lights in a long time and felt like my rhythm was off on serve. That got a bit better as the match went on so that helped.
“I made a few less mistakes but I’d like to play better tennis in the next match.”