Murray loses in semi-final at Surbiton

ANDY Murray’s hopes of winning a first tournament on British soil since 2016 ended in defeat in the Surbiton Trophy semi-finals on Saturday afternoon.

Murray had not won at home since triumphing at the ATP Finals six years ago, and the wait will go on after losing 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to Ukrainian-born American Denis Kudla.

Still, it was a good week of practice on the grass for Murray, who will now head to Germany to play in the Stuttgart Open next week before returning to London to play at Queen’s ahead of another Wimbledon campaign.

The Scot, pictured, who skipped the French Open in order to get in shape for the short grass season, made a good start against his bigserving opponent and took the first set.

He had led 4-1 but was pegged back only to break again at the crucial moment to take it 7-5.

The second set remained on serve and was decided by a tiebreak which went the way of Kudla, who is ranked 81 in the world. The warning signs were there for Murray when he had to save five break points in the second game of the deciding set, but he could not hold off Kudla for long and the American broke at 3-2 and went on to see the match out without any sign of a Murray response.

Kudla, however, was unable to follow up against Australia’s Jordan Thompson in the final of the competition yesterday.

The man from Down Under, seeded eighth, beat the American, seeded one place higher in straight sets – 7-5, 6-3.

Alison van Uytvanck, meanwhile, won the women’s event at Surbiton.

Belgian Van Uytvanck beat Arina Rodionova, like Thompson from Australia, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 to secure the title.

The British grass court season continues this week, with an event at Nottingham.

■ Great Britain’s Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid claimed their tenth Grand Slam title in a row with victory in the men’s wheelchair doubles at the French Open.

The top seeds beat Argentina’s Gustavo Fernandez and Shingo Kunieda of Japan 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) on the Paris clay. The pair have won the doubles title at Roland Garros for the past three years and won the Australian Open title earlier this year.