3am victory is a brutal test of Murray resolve
THERE were extraordinary scenes in Washington as an emotional and exhausted Andy Murray sobbed uncontrollably into his towel after winning an epic match that finished at 3.01am local time.
Murray beat Romanian Marius Copil 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 in three hours and two minutes to reach the Citi Open quarter-finals, before dissolving into floods of tears.
The former world No1 covered his face as he cried for more than two minutes.
Afterwards, he hit out at the schedulers before describing his anguish over his latest-ever finish to a match.
‘It was just the emotions coming out at the end of an extremely long day and long match,’ explained the 31-year-old Scot, who is continuing his comeback after being sidelined for 11 months by a career-threatening hip injury.
‘Finishing matches at three in the morning is not good for the players. It’s not good for fans, TV, for anyone involved in the event.
‘I’m giving my view right now as someone who has just come back from a very long injury lay-off. I don’t think I should be put in a position like that. I don’t think it’s reasonable.
‘I’m disappointed with that. I know the weather is tricky and I know it is for the scheduling, but it’s a very difficult position to be in. I don’t know how you are expected to recover from that.’
Murray and Copil’s match did not get going until 11.59pm because of a rain delay and around 80 spectators stayed to watch to the bitter end in Washington.
It was the latest finish in the tournament’s 50-year history.
Judy Murray described it as ‘brutal’ and also said nobody benefits from such late-night schedules.
Murray’s beaten opponent Copil, the big-serving world No 93, also tweeted: ‘Great battle out there Andy Murray. Welcome back.’
His victory set up a first meeting with Alex de Minaur, the 19-yearold Australian ranked 72 in the world, which was due to take place in the early hours of this morning.
But Murray said he could ‘potentially’ be forced to withdraw due to a lack of time to recover.
‘By the time you’re done with all your recovery, it will be 5.30 or six o’clock in the morning,’ added Murray.
‘I’d try and sleep as late as I can but, with the way your body clock is, you might get a few hours’ sleep. Basically, it’s like playing two matches in a day.’
Murray had looked set to win the opening set against Copil after moving 5-0 ahead in the tiebreak, only for his 27-year-old opponent to reel off seven points in a row.
The Scot levelled the contest and looked the stronger player in the decider, but Copil pushed him to a deciding tiebreak.
It was a third successive threeset match at the tournament for Murray, who defeated American Mackenzie McDonald in the opening round before securing the most impressive victory of his recent comeback against fellow Brit Kyle Edmund.
Now ranked 832nd in the world, the three-time Grand Slam champion is playing only his third tournament since undergoing hip surgery in January. He made his return at Queen’s in June after almost a year out, losing to Nick Kyrgios, then played at Eastbourne where he was beaten by Edmund.
Murray then withdrew from Wimbledon on the eve of the championships, saying it was too soon for him to properly compete in best-of-five set matches.
Now, though, he looks to be making good progress in his comeback despite the ordeal of his late finish in Washington.