Murray has a setback in suburbia
ANDY MURRAY’S preparations for Wimbldedon were brought to an abrupt halt when he suffered defeat by Denis Kudla in the semi-finals of the Surbiton Trophy.
American Kudla recovered from a shaky start to win a two-hour, 33-minute mini-marathon 5-7, 7-6, 6-3. Seeded No1, Murray had skipped the French Open to protect his body for the grass.
He was tested in every aspect of his game yesterday in severely windy conditions against an experienced opponent on this surface.
The two-time Wimbledon champion and former British and world No.1 was competing at the ATP challenger event for the first time in 18 years in a bid to improve his form and strength ahead of Wimbledon at the end of the month.
Murray, 35, will now play another grass-court event in Stuttgart this week before playing at Queen’s ahead of giving Wimbledon another go. He said: ‘You can’t control the results, you can’t predict how the results are going to go but hopefully I can make improvements each round.
‘I just want to keep improving week on week and match on match. That’s all you can do really.
‘Overall it was good for me to get four matches, I would have liked to have won the tournament, but that wasn’t to be.’
Kudla, seeded No7, said: ‘That was probably the biggest win of my career and on grass too. It is unbelievable.
‘The conditions were tough and super windy, but there is something about playing in England and on grass that puts me at ease. I got some inspiration out there.’
Murray, now ranked 67th in the world, showed flashes of his brilliant best and no signs of physical discomfort from his famed metal hip. Stamina and match fitness did look an issue, however, as he faded badly in the final set after so little recent competitive tennis.
He added: ‘It’s tough to read too much into how I played. I competed pretty well for the first couple of sets, third set not as well as I would have liked.’
Kudla, 29, was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, before his family moved to America on his first birthday. He achieved a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon seven years ago and ran Novak Djokovic close in a feisty third-round encounter last year.
Murray started superbly and went 3-0 up in the first set before Kudla, the world No81, battled back to level at 4-4.
The tournament’s top seed then produced his full repertoire of grass court shots, from his booming serve to deft backhand drop shots, to see out the set 7-5 with some exhibition tennis.
Kudla showed his grass-court pedigree again in the second set as he forced Murray to a tense tiebreak, which he won 7-4.
This tournament’s suburban London location, best known as the setting for classic Seventies sitcom The Good Life, has rarely known such excitement. A Platinum Jubilee Union flag featuring an image of the Queen’s face in the middle billowed atop a flagpole near the makeshift centre court.
Murray struggled to find the shots to unsettle Kudla as the match reached a climax and he doublefaulted to gift the American three break points at 2-3 in the decider. Kudla took his chance at the second attempt to lead 4-2 with the crucial break.
The bearded American then held his nerve and his serve to blast a forehand cross-court winner to claim the victory on the first of three match points.