TENNIS I MESSED UP
FRUSTRATED Andy Murray admitted he “messed up” after going down in straight sets to world No.8 Andrey Rublev in Rotterdam.
The Scot was hit with a code violation for smashing his racquet after two double faults at 5-5 led to the only break of a tight first set.
Murray then dropped the final five games to lose 7-5 6-2 in the second round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
The three-time Slam champion, and current world No.123, said: “There were some good, positive signs but when it mattered I wasn’t good enough.
“I felt at the end of the first set, I blew it. I messed up. I am not used to making those errors in those moments.
“I am finding that frustrating and mentally I am looking back at those moments too much, which maybe affected me in the second set.
“The mistakes were not down to any physical issues I had. I probably should have won the first set. In the second set he was much better than me.”
There were certainly encouraging signs for Murray against the bighitting fourth seed. But the shot-making on the big points which propelled him to the very top of the sport has yet to fully return.
His first serve was at least carrying significantly more venom than in Monday’s three-set win over Robin Haase in the first round.
Murray was also comfortable engaging Rublev in long, punishing
...but not as much as you messed up your racquet Andy
rallies early on, waiting for the Russian to make an error.
However, a pair of doublefaults gave Rublev the break for 6-5 and a frustrated Murray smashed his racquet into the ground.
He failed to capitalise on two break points as the first set slipped away in just over an hour.
Rublev, a renowned frontrunner, broke for 3-2 in the second and wrapped up victory with five games in a row. Murray now plans to play events in Dubai and Miami later this month.
Top seed Daniil Medvedev lost his first match since the Australian Open final as he crashed out 7-6 6-4 to Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic.
The Russian would have climbed to second in the world rankings had he reached the Rotterdam final.
Lajovic said: “I think I was very focused the whole match and not influenced by his good serves and shots.
“I knew if I stayed in the match, I would get my opportunities.”
Alexander Zverev was another early casualty. The German was knocked out 7-5 6-3 by Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, while fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut lost the all-Spanish clash 6-2 7-6 (3) to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
SPFL chiefs will launch an investigation into the postponement of tomorrow night’s Fife derby between Dunfermline and Raith Rovers.
A Covid outbreak left the Pars unable to field a team for the live TV clash.
Stevie Crawford’s side registered a positive test following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat against Queen of the South and after talks with the Scottish FA, the Elite Sport Clinical Advisory Group and Test and Protect, they were told a number of players would be required to self-isolate.
They have now informed the SPFL they cannot play the match as they do not have enough players.
An SPFL spokesperson stated: “Due to the number of players now selfisolating, [Dunfermline] have insufficient players to fulfil the fixture.
“As a result, and in line with standard procedure, the SPFL has postponed the fixture pending an investigation into the circumstances.”
A Pars statement said: “We can confirm our club has unfortunately suffered a transmission of Covid into our football bubble.
“Since the weekend we have cooperated fully with the respective authorities to determine fully the extent of the transmission and the individuals who are deemed to be affected.
“As a consequence, we are sadly not in a position to fulfil our fixture.”