Murray fizzles in first round; Serena rebounds from rout
MASON, Ohio — Andy Murray lost to Lucas
Pouille 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Western & Southern Open on Monday, clearing another obstacle for Roger Federer in this U.S. Open tuneup. Top-seeded Rafael
Nadal dropped out Sunday night to prepare for the U.S. Open after winning his fifth title of the year in Toronto.
Murray had his best result since missing 11 months following hip surgery when he reached the quarterfinals in Washington two weeks ago. In only his fourth event of the year, he had a hard time adjusting to the Cincinnati courts.
“The start of the match was not good,” he said. “It was a pretty bad first set. After that, it was a little better.”
Federer, seeded second, has won in Cincinnati a record seven times but hasn't played here since winning in 2015.
On the women’s side,
Serena Williams
bounced back from the most lopsided loss of her career, cruising past Darla Gavrilova 6-1, 6-2. Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner and a former champion in Cincinnati, needed just 65 minutes to dispatch Gavrilova. Williams lost to
Johanna Konta 6-1, 6-0 in San Jose, Calif., before withdrawing from last week's Rogers Cup in Montreal.
In another first-round men’s match, Sam Querrey ground out a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) win over fellow American and ninthseeded John Isner.