Murray’s upset bid falls just short
Andy Murray tumbled on his artificial hip Monday, losing his balance in sweaty shoes and leaving splotches on Arthur Ashe Stadium’s blue court.
Murray muttered. He yelled to his team about fresh shoes. Soon enough, a second-set tiebreaker slipped away against thirdseeded Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In an entertaining match full of the smart play, hard hustling and clutch serving that carried Murray to the U.S. Open championship nearly a decade — and two hip operations — ago, he did not quite have enough to prevail after almost five hours in high heat and humidity.
Rattled by Tsitsipas’ long bathroom break before the final set, Murray lost 2-6, 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the year’s last Grand Slam.
Murray complained about what he considered unfair gamesmanship by the French Open runnerup and announced: “I lost respect for him.
“It’s nonsense. And he knows it, as well.”
Told of Murray’s displeasure, Tsitsipas, who just turned 23, said: “If there’s something that he has to tell me, we should speak, the two of us, to kind of understand what went wrong. I don’t think I broke any rules.”
With exits for Murray and 2014 champion Marin Cilic, the only man left in the draw after Day 1 with a Grand Slam title is No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Osaka wins: After a tight start to her first-round match Monday night, Naomi Osaka grabbed eight of the last nine games and put together a 6-4, 6-1 victory over 87th-ranked Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.
Helped by a serve that reached 120 mph, the reigning champion saved all eight break points she faced and accumulated a 34-10 edge in total winners. Osaka hadn’t played in one of the four major tournaments since May 30 at the French Open.
Fan delays: The U.S. Tennis Association said fans were delayed in trying to enter for the first day.
The event had no spectators in 2020 because of the pandemic. Fans this year are waiting up to 21⁄2 hours to enter the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The USTA says the main cause of the delay has been bag searches. The organization said checking vaccination proof — a requirement for entry — went smoothly.