Andy marches on but Italian gives a fright
ANDY Murray will have to play better if wants to win the US Open.
But he did enough to make the last 16 with a four-set victory over Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi last night.
Murray might have hoped for a less demanding workout, with sterner tests to come, but the Scot had to battle in Arthur Ashe Stadium to beat an inspired Lorenzi 7-6 (7/4) 5-7 6-2 6-3.
He will now face Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov at Flushing Meadows for a place in the quarter-finals.
Lorenzi had won only two Grand Slam matches in his whole career coming into this tournament, but the Italian thrived in the limelight and for two sets had Murray flustered.
The Scot produced 63 unforced errors – more than treble his totals in both the opening rounds – but found his groove when it mattered to reach his 23rd consecutive major fourth round.
“I stopped rushing in the rallies. I was making a lot unforced errors,” Murray said on court afterwards.
“He’s a solid player, doesn’t give you many cheap points and I was trying to get cheap points.
“I slowed things down, my unforced errors went down, my winners went up, and the scoreboard then worked in my favour as well.”
Kevin Spacey was among those watching on in the crowd but, for the best part of two enthralling hours, Lorenzi was the star of the show.
The 34-year-old, hat back to front and shirted in lime green, is an eccentric opponent with a forehand that strikes late to generate maximum top-spin and a stuttering service action that seemed to start and re-start almost three times over.
Murray’s serve – flowing and fluid, in contrast to his opponent – failed to deliver in the opening set and he needed Lorenzi to flinch when up a break and 5-4, to take it to a tie-break.
The Scot momentarily raised his game, digging a superb volley out of his feet before two fizzing returns were enough to put Lorenzi behind.
There was an early break in the second for Murray but he was still struggling for rhythm and it was little surprise when Lorenzi broke back, and then again, to lead 4-2.
At first, Murray smiled at his carelessness and then he pinged his racket into the floor after lolloping wide a volley when the whole court was at his mercy.
Lorenzi’s tennis was going from strength to strength as he lured Murray into lengthy exchanges from the baseline and regularly came out on top.
Murray broke back but parity was temporary as a superb rally ended with a brilliant Lorenzi lob and the Italian sneaked the set to draw level.
The Briton took a toilet break at the start of the third set and came back rejuvenated. He made four unforced errors compared to 28 and 19 in the first and second sets respectively, and broke twice to quickly restore his lead.
Another break in the first game of the fourth was enough to maintain Murray’s momentum and Lorenzi’s intensity began to fizzle.
The veteran double-faulted to give his opponent match point and Murray converted, sealing a hard-fought victory in three hours, 17 minutes.
Serena Williams broke the women’s record for most Grand Slam singles wins by cruising past Johanna Larsson and into the last 16, in just one hour, 6-2 6-1 to register her 307th major victory.