MURRAY SQUANDERS SEVEN MATCH POINTS IN PAINFUL PARIS EXIT
Andy MurrAy suffered the rare ignominy of missing seven match points last night as he crashed out of the indoor Paris Masters.
The double Wimbledon champion had repeated chances to put away Germany’s dominik Koepfer but ultimately lost 6-4, 5-7, 7-6, going down 11-9 in an 18-minute sudden death tiebreak.
Five of the match points came in the breaker, which he was continually on the cusp of
winning, with his world no 58 opponent also seemingly reluctant to cross the finish line.
Koepfer, a late replacement in the draw as a lucky loser from qualifying — taking the place of Murray’s scheduled opponent Jenson Brooksby, who withdrew with a stomach strain — finally squeezed home having initially choked badly when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
The smattering of recent encouraging wins for 34-year-old Murray (right) will have been quickly forgotten as, once again this year, his composure deserted him on the biggest points, a recurring theme. There was no such trouble for Cam norrie as a 100th ATP Tour victory kept alive his hopes of qualifying for this month’s lucrative end-of-season Tour Finals. The British no 1 is nonetheless pessimistic that he will make the eight-man field, despite thrashing Argentina’s Federico delbonis 6-2, 6-1 at the Paris Masters yesterday. norrie almost certainly has to reach the quarter-finals this week and then hope that the results of his three main rivals go his way. ‘I’m doing what I can but I know it’s a long shot for me to make the event,’ he said. ‘I’m quite far behind, so I’ve got a lot of work to do, but luckily there’s a lot of tennis left to be played. It’s cool that I’m in the conversation this late in the year.
‘I like the fact there is added pressure. I have heard it’s such a special event, so it would be great to be part of it. If not, I have had a phenomenal season, in my opinion, so I’ll leave the year feeling great about my level and how things went. But it would be a bonus to make it.’
He was awaiting the winner of Filip Karjinovic and American giant reilly Opelka, and will be going for his 50th victory of 2021.
dan Evans suffered disappointment when he was beaten 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 by Alexander Bublik of Kazkahstan, who served 24 aces.
Meanwhile rafael nadal, who has not played since early August due to a foot injury, announced that he will return to action at a pre-Christmas exhibition in Abu dhabi ahead of the Australian Open.