The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Defeat signals break time for tired Murray
Tennis: Scot ready for rest as 22-match streak is ended
Andy Murray is ready to enjoy a well-earned break after his 22match winning streak finally came to an end in Cincinnati.
Since losing the French Open final to Novak Djokovic, world number two Murray has won the Aegon championships, his second Wimbledon title and a second Olympic gold medal after defeating Juan Martin del Potro in a gruelling four-set, four-hour final in Rio.
The 29-year-old Scot flew directly from Brazil to Cincinnati to contest the Western and Southern Open, which he won in 2008 and 2011.
Shunning the effects of jet lag, he beat Juan Monaco, Kevin Anderson, Bernard Tomic and Milos Raonic without too much trouble to set up a final showdown with Marin Cilic on Sunday.
It was the Croatian who emerged victorious, however, with former US Open champion Cilic winning 6-4, 7-5 to claim his first Masters title. David Willey will rejoin England’s one-day squad on Thursday for the rest of the Royal London series against Pakistan after a scan showed an injury to his left hand was not as severe as was first feared.
The Yorkshire and England allrounder had been
But Murray, the latest member of the 600 Club having reached the ATP World Tour match-wins milestone against Anderson, was not too downhearted.
He said: “I’m proud of this week. Obviously, it didn’t go how I would have wanted but I certainly didn’t expect to get to the final when I arrived here.
“I had some good wins. There were tough, tricky conditions with the wind in the final.
“I think if I got off to a better ruled out on Sunday after suffering the injury during NatWest Twenty20 finals day at Edgbaston on Saturday.
However, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced yesterday that the scans had shown no fracture, allowing Willey to be part of the group.
He will miss the first oneday international at the start maybe I could have done better. I had a break point in his first service game and 0-30 in his next service game. I was behind from that point, it was tough. But it’s a positive week. I’m looking forward to a rest.”
Cilic was struggling against fatigue, too, after his semi-final against Grigor Dimitrov finished at 1.35am local time on Sunday.
He said: “I went to sleep around 4am and woke up a little bit before 11am.” Rose Bowl in Southampton tomorrow.
Nottinghamshire seamer Jake Ball, who had been called up to replace Willey, will remain in the squad.
Stuart Broad will undergo a further scan today on his left ankle and has been withdrawn from Nottinghamshire’s English championship squad for their match against Yorkshire at Scarborough.
A wet outfield saw a second consecutive day of the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand at Durban wiped out.
Thunderstorms on day two and a deluge of rain left conditions unplayable and the clean-up operation has failed to enable play to resume on either day three
Gor four, despite dry conditions. Groundstaff spent several hours attempting to remedy the affected areas at Kingsmead but the match now looks destined for a draw.
The game had been finely-poised beforehand, with New Zealand 15 for two in reply to South Africa’s first-innings 263.