Murray blames ‘poor attitude’ after squandering early lead
Andy Murray bowed out of the European Open in Antwerp after a straight-sets defeat against Diego Schwartzman.
Murray, back at the scene of his last singles title in 2019, was unable to make the most of an early lead as Schwartzman won 6-4, 7-6 in 2hr 13min.
Schwartzman had the luxury of a first-round bye on Tuesday, while Murray fought his way into the last 16 with an epic victory over Frances Tiafoe, which lasted almost four hours.
Murray struck the first blow against Schwartzman to break for a 3-1 lead and the Scot’s serve was not troubled until the Argentine fought back in the seventh game.
Murray saved a second break point with an ace, but it was third time lucky for Schwartzman who broke, levelled and then surged ahead.
Schwartzman saw out the first set by winning a fifth consecutive game.
Murray held serve at the start of the next set by saving two break points. A see-saw second set went in Schwartzman’s favour with a break for a 3-2 lead, but Murray showed his resilience once again to level at 4-4. Both players then led in a thrilling tie-break during which there were no less than five break points but Schwartzman clinched victory with his second match point. “I didn’t make as many good decisions as I would have liked in the second set dealing with adversity,” Murray said. “Mentally, I was poor and my attitude was poor on the court. They are two things you can control, if they’re not there that will make the decision-making harder in matches.”
Murray now plans to play at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna next week and November’s Stockholm Open. He could also play at the Rolex Paris Masters in between, possibly as a wild card or even as a qualifier.
“Sport is a results business,” Murray said. “Play well or poorly doesn’t really matter if you lose matches. You need to be winning. That’s what I want in the last few tournaments. I want to win more matches.”