Murray much happier after ‘offensive’ win
● Scot heartened by manner of victory
Andy Murray believes the manner of his victory over Kyle Edmund at the Citi Open in Washington was just as important as the result.
The former world No 1 prevailed 7-6 (7/4), 1-6, 6-4 in the battle of the Brits to clinch the biggest win of his comeback from hip surgery.
Murray, now 832nd in the world rankings, was facing the man who replaced him as British No 1 and gained some revenge for his straight-sets defeat by Edmund at Eastbourne in June.
It was another testing occasionfor the scot, who was taken to a decider for a second time this week having edged out Mackenzie Mcdonald in the first round.
But the 31-year-old was particularly encouraged by a more attacking display against his compatriot, telling the ATP Tour website: “It was much better, just in terms of the way I actually played the match.
“In the first match I basically spent the whole match defending, I was playing quite far behind the baseline. And that’s not really how I want to be playing moving forward.
“I spoke at good length with my coach about that. Today, regardless of the result, we wanted to at least be dictating more points, trying to use my forehand, be closer to the baseline.
“I think I did that, especially in some of the important moments in the third set... I was being more offensive. I was a lot happier with the way I approached the match.”
Murray was due to play Marius Copil in the last 16 in the early hours of this morning after the Romanian beat Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4.
Edmund said: “I gave my best of what I had on the day today. Just didn’t work out. It
would have been nice to hold serve and maybe even control what I can and take [the third set] to a tie-break but it didn’t happen.”
Meanwhile, Benoit Paire has been handed a hefty fine by the ATP for his racket-throwing tantrum during a first-round loss to Marcos Baghdatis at the Citi Open on Tuesday night.
The 29-year-old Frenchman, who is ranked 55, responded to dropping serve in the deciding set of his 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 loss by smashing three rackets and flinging
them across the court. Paire was also warned for swearing and appeared to give up during the final game, barely attempting to get a racket on Baghdatis’ final serve, and has been fined $16,500 (approximately £12,600), more than twice as much as the $7,130 (£5,450) he earned for his round-one loss.
Paire is known for his short fuse, and he wrote on Instagram on Wednesday: “Yes, it’s true, I got upset yesterday. What I remember is that I’m on the right track and I’m progressing since the beginning of the year so, for those who want to stay on it, there’s no problem but I have already moved on.”
Britain’s Cameron Norrie reached the last eight at the Los Cabos Open after beating eighth seed Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3 in just under an hour and 20 minutes in Mexico.
The world No 74 and British No 2 went 3-0 up early in the first set and broke again for a 5-1 lead, but failed to clinch the set on his next service game as Lopez broke back.
Norrie did not drop his serve in the second set and won the match with his second consecutive break to book an encounter against Adrian Mannarino, which was due to be played in the early hours of this morning.
Johanna Konta notched up her second win in as many days by beating Sofia Kenin 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.
The Briton, who saw off Serena Williams 6-1, 6-0 on Tuesday, broke the American’s first service game for a 3-0 lead then again for 5-1. The world No 48 saved a break point and served out the set, before clinching the second set after a break to love.