Murray’s tough task to amend US Open loss

ANDY Murray is looking to make amends for one that got away when he takes on Kei Nishikori (right) in the French Open quarter-finals today.

The world No 1 was the favourite to claim the title at the US Open last summer after winning Wimbledon and Olympic gold, but came unstuck in a dramatic quarter-final against Nishikori.

He won the first set 6-1, led by two sets to one and looked poised to go a break up in the fourth when play was interrupted by a loud noise from the PA system.

Murray lost his cool then fought back from 2-4 down in the decider to lead 5-4 but lost the last three games.

Remarkably, Nishikori was unable to recall the match at all when asked about it despite the win being one of the biggest of his career.

With a sheepish grin, the eighth seed said: “Actually I’m very bad with the memories. I don’t even know if I won or lost. I won?”

Murray has an encyclopaedic knowledge of his previous matches so there was no chance of him having a similar memory lapse.

He said: “Obviously we played at the US Open and that was five sets, a match that got away from me a little bit, so I need to learn a bit from that.

“There’s a good chance it’s a long one. He returns well and he’s very solid off both wings. He’s always a tough guy to play against.

“I’m happy with where my game’s at. Everything is going pretty well just now. I’m feeling good going into the middle part of the second week.”

Although Nishikori cannot remember their New York tussle, he needs no reminding how tough an opponent Murray can be.

The 30-year-old has won eight of their 10 previous meetings, most recently at the ATP World Tour Finals last November.

Nishikori said: “We have been playing so many times. He’s a great player. A very smart tennis player.

“It’s never easy and I think this week he’s been playing well, I’ve been watching some matches. He’s hitting great balls. So I’m sure it’s going to be a tough one but I’ll try to enjoy and try to win the match.”

All the men’s quarter-finals will be played today after the matches between Rafael Nadal and Pablo Carreno Busta and Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem were rained off yesterday.

There was better news regarding the women’s last-eight match-ups however, despite the weather interruptions.

Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko claimed a surprise place in the semi-finals after beating 11th seed Caroline Wozniacki 4-6 6-2 6-2. She will face Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, who ended the hopes of local favourite and 13th seed Kristina Mladenovic 6-4 6-4.

Meanwhile, Murray was one of three British players honoured at the ITF World Champions Dinner in Paris last night, along with brother Jamie and Australian Open and Wimbledon champ Gordon Reid.