Murray heads home as Williams join last eight
SUCH is the packed nature of the revamped tennis schedule this year that Jamie Murray flew home last night with little time to dwell on his US Open exit, already looking ahead to the next challenge; clay.
Clay means the French Open, with Rome first and then perhaps Hamburg if he and partner Neal Skupski can get into the event, before heading to Roland- Garros.
Murray and Skupski saw their US Open hopes come to an end yesterday when they were beaten 6- 2, 7- 6 by Brazilian Bruno Soares – Murray’s former partner – and Mate Pavic of Croatia.
Having lost in the final of the Cincinnati event, which was played on the same courts last week, it was a disappointing end and just over a year in to their partnership – with a fivemonth Coronavirus- enforced break, the pair have still to win a title together.
“It’s hard to win tournaments,” Murray said. “We’re playing a lot of the biggest events, playing a lot of the top players in the world. There’s a lot of tennis still to play this year, we’ll keep going and hopefully get a title under our belts.”
A slow start proved costly for the British pair as they fell behind but they had three set points in the second set to force a decider but were unable to take their opportunities.
“We got off to a bad start, it was poor really,” Murray admitted. “After that we got into the match, played some decent stuff at times, had set points out of nowhere at the end of the second set, probably should have done better on them.
“Then we were up a minibreak in the tiebreak and lost the last four points. It’s a bit like last week in the final, we didn’t start playing until the second set, we need to understand why that happened.”
Serena Williams’ quest for a record- equalling 24th Grand Slam title has been going on for more than two years now, four times coming within one win of the title only to miss out in the final.
The pressure and stress of trying to equal Margaret Court has taken its toll at times but in New York, in this most unusual of years with no fans to add to the drama, the American is finding a way to win while remaining calm when it matters.
Yesterday, the former world No. 1 looked in trouble when she trailed Maria Sakkari of Greece 2- 0 in the final set, having lost a three- setter to her just over a week ago in the Cincinnati event.
But after breaking back for 2- 2, the six- time champion pulled away in vintage fashion, wrapping up a win that could yet propel her over the line.
“It’s definitely less pressure,” the 38- year- old said. “I miss the fans, but this is different. The breaks are a bit longer when there are fans and they are clapping, so there are some plusses and minuses.”
If she can keep the stress at bay, Williams is going to take some stopping.