Medvedev too hot to handle for Murray
ANDY MURRAY’S winning start to 2019 came to a halt at the Brisbane International after he was beaten 7-5, 6-2, by Daniil Medvedev in their second-round meeting.
Murray, who continues to be affected by a longterm hip injury, overcame James Duckworth in his opening match of
2019 on New Year’s Day but was comprehensively beaten by Medvedev.
The 31-year-old Briton has slipped to 240th in the world rankings following hip surgery and admitted after overcoming Duckworth that he does not know how much longer his career will last.
Medvedev fired 16 aces to set up a quarter-final appointment with Canadian Milos Raonic tomorrow.
“He served extremely well and I didn’t really get many chances on his service games,” Murray said.
“And then on my own service games I made a few too many errors in the rallies, especially early on I was trying to play a little bit more offensive.
“In the second set, I made a few too many mistakes, and obviously there was a period in the match from 5-5 where I lost six games in a row. “When you play better players... they will expose any errors that you make in your game or any shots that you’re not hitting particularly well. And he did that.” British No 1 Kyle Edmund (inset) was on the wrong end of an upset as he crashed out to qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-6 (8/6), 6-4.
Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, has pulled out of the tournament, placing a question mark over his participation in the Australian Open.
The Spaniard opted not to play his second match at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi last week after tweaking his thigh and is worried about exacerbating the problem.
He said: “I did an MRI and it shows a small strain on my left thigh. I tried to play, I wanted to play, but recommendations from the doctors
[were otherwise].
“I feel better than I did four days ago. It’s a risk to damage my body for one month if I play here.”
Japanese lucky loser Taro Daniel takes Nadal’s place – and his first-round bye – and faces Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second.
British interest in the event ended as Johanna Konta and Harriet Dart tumbled out with straight-sets defeats in the women’s second round.
Konta was beaten 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), by Ajla Tomljanovic, an opponent ranked nine places below her at 46, while Dart lasted less than an hour as she went down 6-2, 6-0, to Latvian Anastasija Sevastova.
World No 7 and fourth seed Petra Kvitova also suffered defeat, going down 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), to Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, but the upset of the day was supplied by Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who dispatched world No 4 and defending champion Elina Svitolina 6-4, 0-6, 6-3, to reach the quarter-finals.