Agut punch for Murray in Australia opener
THINGS don’t get any easier for Andy Murray. On the day he took just two games off Novak Djokovic in a practice match on Margaret Court arena, the three-time Grand Slam winner and former world No.1 was handed a strenuous first-round Australian Open assignment against Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut.
While the 31-year-old Scot has won all three of his previous meetings against a man who previously graced the youth ranks of Villarreal and would usually fancy his chances, Bautista-Agut is coming off one of the biggest weeks of his career, having beaten Djokovic as he claimed the Qatar Exxon Mobile Open in Doha.
By contrast, most observers granted access to this exhibition match spoke of their concern about the Scot’s laboured movement after this practice hit, which stood at 6-1, 4-1 in Djokovic’s favour when time was called.
Murray has played just two tour matches since shutting down his 2018 season early to concentrate on rehab work on that troublesome hip – a firstround win against Jack Duckworth in Brisbane before losing to world No.16 Daniil Medvedev.
That tell-tale limp was in evidence between points yesterday in what was a re-match of four previous Aussie Open finals. But, having spoken in emotional terms about the difficulties of playing through the pain barrier, at least his sense of humour seemed to be intact.
The Scot apologised to a supporter on Instagram afterwards, saying “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more entertaining today”, then pledged to give her a ticket for his first-round encounter.
When Djokovic conceded the point when one of only two winners off the ground during the whole season was called just long, Murray earned a few laughs from the crowd by saying “you wouldn’t have done that if it is was a final”.
Should Murray – in the same half of the draw as Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal – overcome Bautista-Agut, the likes of home favourite John Millman and the highly-rated Karen Khachanov of Russia lie in wait.
Cam Norrie is pitted against his doubles partner Taylor Fritz, a man he beat in Auckland this week, while Kyle Edmund has a tough opener against Doha runner-up Tomas Berdych.
Djokovic could have a re-run of a previous final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as early as the second round.
In the women’s event, Jo Konta – also a former semifinalist at this venue – faces adopted Aussie Alja Tomljanovic, while No.16 seed Serena Williams starts against Tatjana Maria of Germany.