Breaking point /Murray slams Fognini for shouting during rally
● Scot disappointed after stormy defeat
Andy Murray hit out at Fabio Fognini after losing to the Italian in the Shanghai Masters second round.
The Scot was furious after Fognini shouted as the Scot was about to put away a volley in the 11th game of the deciding set. Murray confronted him at the changeover and, when umpire Fergus Murphy tried to intervene, he told him: “When I have a volley on top of the net, he shouts and then tells me ‘don’t look at me’ – he shouted in the middle of the point.”
Murray, right, then shouted to Fognini: “Mate, you do it all the time, to everyone. Shut up!”
Murray said afterwards: “The sound came from him, which you’re not allowed to do, it’s against the rules, it’s hindrance.”
The former World No 1 twice failed to serve out for victory before losing the third set in a tiebreak.
Andy Murray lost a fiery encounter with Fabio Fognini in the second round of the Shanghai Masters after twice failing to serve it out.
The performance itself gave more than enough talking points, with Murray raising his level again to push a player ranked 12 in the world all the way before slipping to a 7-6 (4) 2-6 7-6 (2) defeat.
Murray was furious with Fognini, who is no stranger to overstepping the mark, when he shouted as the Scot was about to put away a volley in the 11th game of the deciding set.
Murray confronted his opponent at the change of ends, telling the Italian to “shut up” as umpire Fergus Murphy tried to dissuade him from taking it any further.
Having failed to serve out the match at 5-4, Murray had another chance at 6-5 but Fognini broke back once more and then dominated the tiebreak, clinching victory after three hours and nine minutes.
The handshake between the pair was brief, with Murray continuing to press his point to Murphy before leaving the court.
“I’m very disappointed right now,” Murray said afterwards.
“There are a lot of things that I need to get better at, and I can do much better. I will go away and I’ll work on those things.
“I served for the match twice and lost after three hours, so I want to say that’s the first time ever in my career that that’s happened.”
Murray has had many tough tussles with Fognini over the years, winning four and losing three of their previous seven matches.
The Italian landed the first blow with a break of the Murray serve to lead 2-1 only for Murray to reel off three games in a row, securing the second break with a backhand winner flashed brilliantly cross-court.
However, Fognini produced some high-quality points of his own to get back on serve immediately and, after both men had survived pressure on their own serves, it was the Italian who edged the tiebreak, a double fault proving costly for Murray.
The Scot responded very well, breaking Fognini for 3-2 in the second set and then making it five games in a row after his opponent had a mental lapse.
He was back fully focused at the start of the decider, though, and it was nip and tuck all the way through to the dramatic final stages.
Cameron Norrie was also beaten in the second round, losing 6-3, 6-1 to US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev.
Roger Federer didn’t face a break point as he won his opening match. Having received a bye into the second round, he beat Albert Ramosvinolas 6-2, 7-6 (5).