SUCH A CIN FOR ANDY
Murray fails to Pouille it off but insists he’s not far away from hitting the heights
ANDY MURRAY crashed to defeat in Cincinnati as the Scot’s stuttering return to action suffered another bump in the road.
The former British No.1 was beaten 6-1 1-6 6-4 by Lucas Pouille in the first round of the Western & Southern Open.
It was the first time the 31-year-old – who has made a slow comeback from hip surgery in January – had been back on court since pulling out of the Citi Open in Washington earlier this month.
And he looked every bit off the pace as he slumped to a tough defeat against the 16th seed Frenchman, who had never beaten the Dunblane ace in four previous attempts.
Murray, whose ranking plummeted into the 800s last month but has now risen to 375, has now fallen at the first hurdle in two of the four tournaments he has contested this year.
But the two-time Wimbledon champion remained optimistic and said: “I only lost four more points in the match than him. It was tight and he’s a top 20 player.
“If I can improve by 10, 15 per cent, then I can turn a lot of those matches around.”
Pouille took the opening set in just over 30 minutes but Murray, who triumphed here in 2008 and in 2011, hit straight back to level the match after winning the second set 6-1 in convincing style.
He broke Pouille in the first game and never looked back, stepping on to the front foot, finding his range and playing more aggressively.
Pouille was broken for a second time to trail 4-1 and after Murray comfortably held serve, the French star lost his serve again in the seventh game to send the match into a decider.
But Murray lost his way again and could not contain the impressive shot-making of
Pouille, who dominated the third set to win in an hour and 53 minutes.
Pouille pounced on Murray’s nervous start to the decider as the Briton double-faulted on the first point before being broken in the opening game.
Pouille moved comfortably into a 2-0 lead and although Murray held serve in the next, he failed to convert a break point in the fourth game and fell 3-1 behind.
Murray pulled it back to 5-4, having saved match point on his serve as he trailed 5-3.
But Pouille held his nerve to take serve in the 10th game, winning the set 6-4 and sealing a deserved victory.
It was delight for the 24-year-old, who now faces Argentina Leonardo Mayerin in the second round, as he celebrated claiming one of the biggest scalps of his career.
Pouille said: “I’m very happy, especially with the way I fought until the end. I tried to do my best in the third set and until the end I played very aggressive. I’m very pleased with that.
“I wanted to put as much pressure on him as I could. He doesn’t like that.
“I knew I would have some opportunity to break again and that’s what I did in the first game of the third set. It made a huge difference.”
Elsewhere, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, Brit Kyle Edmund and Japan’s Kei Nishikori were also early first round winners.
The 13th seeded Carreno Busta outlasted France’s Richard Gasquet 6-3 2-6 6-3, 14th seeded Edmund beat American wildcard Mackenzie McDonald 6-3 6-2 and Nishikori turned back Russia’s Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-3.
The tournament lost its top seed when Spanish world No.1 Rafael Nadal withdrew after winning the Rogers Cup.
World No.2 Roger Federer, who skipped the Toronto event, is now the highest seed left in the competition.
If I can improve by 10, 15 per cent I can turn matches around ANDY MURRAY