The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Murray beaten in Monte Carlo– but describes shock exit as ‘progress’
TENNIS: Scot happy with ‘progress’ and says service is improving
Andy Murray described his Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters exit as “progress” and admitted he would have accepted a third-round defeat 10 days ago.
The world No 1 was 4-0 up in the deciding set against Albert RamosVinolas before the Spaniard hit back to qualify for the quarter-finals with a 2-6 6-2 7-5 victory.
Murray was returning from injury at the tournament having been sidelined with an elbow problem since March 12.
The 29-year-old told Sky Sports: “If I’d been offered this result a week, 10 days ago, I would’ve taken it
“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play here or not.
“For me personally – it’s not going to seem it to everyone watching – but it’s progress from where I was 10 days, a couple of weeks ago.
“I’m going to need to put some work in, there are some things I need to improve upon. But it wasn’t too bad.”
Murray’s serving woes continued as he was broken seven times during the see-saw encounter in Monaco.
The Scot started his second-round match against Gilles Muller on Wednesday with three double faults in the first four points of the match and it did not get much better in his match-up against clay-specialist Ramos-Vinolas.
However, Murray, was not too concerned with his serve.
“If you’re serving for two weeks 30, 40, 50 kilometres an hour slower than what you’re used to, you’re going to serve slightly differently and then when you start serving fast again it just takes a bit of time to get into a rhythm,” he added.
“I felt like – even though I didn’t hold serve that much today – that I served better than I did in my last match. Second serve had a little bit more speed on it, less double faults, a few more aces.
“That’s something that I think will keep getting better.
“I was really happy with how my elbow felt this week. It got better each day. I’m going to need to obviously improve my serving over the next few weeks.
Novak Djokovic’s road to recovery continued with victory against Pablo Carreno Busta as he secured his passage through to the quarter-finals. Djokovic, playing only his second clay match of the year following elbow surgery, dropped the middle set and was tied at 4-4 in the decider before edging the final two games to secure a nervy 6-2 4-6 6-4 win.
The Serbian is the top seed left in the tournament. He will now face Belgian David Goffin, who beat Dominic Thiem in three sets, for a spot in the semi-finals.
Djokovic joined Rafael Nadal in the last eight in Monte Carlo after the 30-year-old nine-time French Open winner demolished highly-rated German Alexander Zverev 6-1 6-1.
Nadal will face Diego Schwartzman of Argentina in the next round.
There were wins too in Monte Carlo for fifth seed Marin Cilic, who knocked out Tomas Berdych in straight sets, while No 11 seed Lucas Pouille secured his passage through to the quarter-finals after his French compatriot Adrian Mannarino retired in the first set.
But there was a surprise exit for Stan Warwinka.
The No 3 seed was beaten in straight sets by Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-4 6-4.