Murray shows vintage form to set up first clash with Djokovic since 2017
Where the British youngsters fell short yesterday in Madrid, the seasoned veteran stepped up as Andy Murray scored his best win of the year – and set up a first meeting in five years with world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
Murray downed 16th-ranked Denis Shapovalov at the Mutua Madrid Open in three sets to reach the last-16, which will be his long-awaited 37th match against Djokovic.
The last time he and the Serb met, in Doha in January 2017, Murray was the world No 1. Now, ranked 78th and still on the comeback trail, Murray will finally be able to test himself against the greatest rival of his career.
It is all thanks to his hard-fought, late-night 6-1 3-6 6-2 win, Murray’s first top-20 scalp of the year and best since he beat Jannik Sinner (10) in Stockholm last November.
It is also only the second time he has recorded consecutive wins at a tournament this season. And all the more impressive because he and Shapovalov’s only previous meeting was at Wimbledon last year, where Murray was easily dispatched by the Canadian in straight sets.
Since then, Shapovalov has linked up with Murray’s former coach of five years Jamie Delgado but the insider intel was not enough to help the Canadian. Murray, as he did in the first round against Dominic Thiem, looked as good as he has since returning to the tour with a metal hip, especially in the first set.
Where Murray was consistent and defensively sharp, Shapovalov was erratic and error-strewn at first, overhitting his way into trouble and screaming in frustration throughout. But he tightened up the sloppy shots in the second set, as Murray began to look leggy, and pushed things to a third set.
Murray was the better player from thereafter, but it was still tight. He had two break points at 2-1 up in the decider, including after a fine drop shot chase down and cross court winner, which had the crowd
on their feet, but it turned out to be a wasted chance.
He kept his focus though, in particular with absurd return statistics, and went for the kill at the next break-point opportunity to nudge himself in front again. Then, after more than two hours on court, he served his way into the last 16.
It is an intriguing moment for Murray to play Djokovic, with the Serb still finding his way back to top form after missing a huge chunk of the tour so far this year due to coronavirus restrictions limiting his ability to travel unvaccinated. But on Tuesday he made an impressive start to his campaign in Madrid, beating Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.
Meanwhile, two-time grand slam finalist Kevin Anderson announced his retirement from tennis. The 35-year-old South African hit a peak of world No 5 in 2018.