Murray in a hurry to extend season
Jamie murray walked on court at London’s O2 arena last night, knowing that defeat would effectively bring a long, hard season to an abrupt halt.
Within less than an hour, he and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares had ensured that would not be the case as they defeated the Croatian/Spanish double act of ivan Dodig and marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-1 to see them fight another day at the Nitto aTP Finals.
a second loss would have meant a certain exit, but their win was so comprehensive that, tomorrow, they can guarantee progression to the semi-finals if they beat Lukasz Kubot and marcelo melo.
‘it’s going to be difficult, but i think we’re a great team,’ said murray. ‘if we play our best, i think we’re better than them.’
murray and Soares were far more purposeful than when losing to america’s Bryan twins on monday, but the Scot did require some brief treatment on his back in the middle of the second set at 4-1. However, he held serve before closing out victory in 51 minutes.
‘it was like a spasm or joint or something,’ said murray. ‘it’s sore now. i’ll go and see the physio afterwards, so, hopefully, they sort it out.’
Victory over Kubot and melo will also see murray and Soares through as group winners, unless they drop a set and the Bryans beat Dodig a nd Granollers.
earlier, Grigor Dimitrov won the Pete Sampras Group after destroying David Goffin 6-0, 6-2, and will now meet the winner of today’s Jack Sockalexander Zverev clash in the semi-finals. in the same group, Dominic Thiem beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and he or Goffin will face roger Federer in the last four.
meanwhile, amazon have agreed a five - year contract reckoned to be worth upwards of £25million with the uS Open to broadcast the american Grand Slam event into British homes. it comes after they bought the uK rights to the aTP World Tour from 2019.