Murray out of US doubles too
Andy Murray has confirmed that he will not be competing in either singles or doubles tennis at the US Open.
The former world No 1, who was scheduled to face brother Jamie in the men’s doubles quarter-finals at the Cincinnati Masters last night, had been due to play doubles in New York, having decided earlier this week not to enter the singles. He has now opted to focus on singles competition elsewhere as he bids to step up his return from the career-saving hip surgery he underwent in January.
“I’m not going to play doubles at the US Open,” said Murray, who played his first singles match in seven months on Monday night. “My goal is to get back playing at the level that I want to on the singles court, and I’ve decided that I need to focus all my energies on that right now. The US Open, doubles and mixed, can be another couple of weeks that you are slowing things down.”
Murray and partner Feliciano Lopez beat Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 to reach the last eight in Cincinnati after Jamie and Neal Skupski overcame French pair Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-hugues Herbert 6-3, 6-3.
Murray will play in next week’s ATP event in Winstonsalem after being given a wild card and will then consider entering a tournament on the Challenger Tour during the US Open, which starts on 26 August.
In the Cincinnati singles, Roger Federer suffered a shock loss to Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev in the third round. Rublev, the world No 70, broke Federer three times as he powered to a stunning 6-3, 6-4 win in 62 minutes. Novak Djokovic beat Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, and will next play Lucas Pouille in the quarterfinal.
In the women’s singles, Madison Keys overcame Simona Halep for the first time in five years, winning 6-1, 3-6, 7-5. Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova will join Keys in the quarterfinals after beating American Sloane Stephens 6-1, 6-2.
World No 1 Naomi Osaka beat Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan in another three-set thriller, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2.
Karolina Pliskova defeated Rebecca Peterson 7-5, 6-4, Venus Williams overcame Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Ashleigh Barty beat Anett Kontaveit 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
There were also wins for Maria Sakkari, who beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, and Sonya Kenin, who beat Ukranian Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6.