The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)

Pelvic problem forces Murray out of Cologne

- ELEANOR CROOKS

Andy Murray has pulled out of next week’s ATP Tour event in Cologne because of a lingering pelvic problem.

The former world No 1 re vealed ahead of the French Open last month that he had been forced to rest following a secondroun­d loss at the US Open because of tendinitis in his left psoas muscle, which connects the spine to the femur.

Murray said he had felt good physically once he began training on clay but he suffered a chastening first- round loss to Stan Wawrinka in Paris and was then beaten by Fernando Verdasco in his opening match in Cologne on Tuesday.

The Scot had been due to stay on in the German city for this week ’s second tournament , th e b e t t 1HULK S Championsh­ips, where he had been drawn to face Serbia’s Danilo Petrovic, but his body once again is not cooperatin­g.

It is understood it is a niggling problem rather than something that has flared up this week and Murray is still hoping to play again this season.

It now appears ver y unlikely that he will compete at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna starting on October 26 but the Paris Masters the following week is understood to be a possibilit­y.

The news is yet another indication, though, that Murray’s biggest challenge if he remains committed to trying to return to the upper echelons of the sport will simply be staying fit.

There was a good deal of optimism 12 months ago after he returned ahead of schedule following his hip resurfacin­g operation and won an emotional title in Antwerp.

It appeared Murray ’s comeback would gather pace in 2021 but a comb ina t ion o f a complicati­on from the hip surger y that kept him sidelined for the first two months of the year and the hiatus caused by the c o r o n av i r u s pandemic means he has only played four tournament­s, winning three matches.

T he 33 - year- old was downbeat after his loss to Verdasco, saying: “I need to practise, I need to play matches and physically I need to get better. I need to get back to playing my game on the court. I’ve kind of gone away from that a little bit.”

Meanwhile Alexander Zverev won his first title of the year by beating Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets at the bett1HULKS Indoors in Croatia.

The German world No 7, runner-up at last month’s US Open, beat Canadian youngster Auger-Aliassime 6-3 6-3.

“I had a very tough final in New York and the next final I played here I wanted to come out and obviously play my best tennis, finish the match,” Zverev said.

At the St Petersburg Open top seed Andrey Rublev took the honours.

The Russian world No 10, looking to stay on track for a place at the ATP Finals in London for the first time, beat Croatia’s Borna Coric 7-6 (5) 6-4.

Serbia’s Laslo Djere won the Sardegna Open with a 7- 6 ( 3) 7- 5 victory over Marco Cecchinato of Italy.

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