Murray loses in return to singles
Andy Murray moved well in his first singles match since January, but not well enough to win.
Using a bottomless repertoire of drop shots, Richard Gasquet snapped a fivematch losing streak against Murray with a 64, 64 win in the first round of the Western & Southern Open on Monday in Mason, Ohio.
The singles match was Murray’s first since a painful exit from the Australian Open that had him thinking his career might be over. The threetime Grand Slam champion underwent a second hip surgery Jan. 28, getting metal implants to help eliminate pain.
“I don’t really know what I was expecting, to be honest,” Murray said. “I think I did OK . ... I think physically, you know, my legs were a little bit heavy at the end of the match in comparison to maybe what they normally would be if you played, you know, a bunch.”
The 32yearold’s rust was evident as he doublefaulted on his first serve, but he recovered to last 1 hour, 36 minutes with no apparent health issues.
Gasquet next plays fourth seed Dominic Thiem. 5underpar 65 on Course No. 4 at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort & Country Club for a onestroke lead after Day 1 in stroke play of the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship. The 65 set the competitive record on Course No. 4.
Wu had just returned from the Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, where he finished in fourth place individually and helped the mixed USA team to a gold medal. Basketball: Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry withdrew from USA Basketball’s pool of candidates for its FIBA World Cup team, saying his surgically repaired thumb isn’t ready to allow him to participate in oncourt workouts.
In the San Francisco ProAm playoffs at Kezar Pavilion, Juhwan HarrisDyson (Cal) scored 28 points to lead Dream Team to a 10494 victory over East Bay in Game 1 of the bestofthree championship series. Game 2 is at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Agents: The NCAA has backtracked on new certification standards and no longer will require a bachelor’s degree for a sports agent to represent Division I men’s basketball players who declare for the NBA draft while maintaining college eligibility.
The requirement drew criticism last week when the certification standards were revealed. The requirement was dubbed the “Rich Paul Rule” in reference to LeBron James’ agent, who does not have a college degree. Courts: Former NBA guard Sebastian Telfair, 33, was sentenced in New York to 31⁄2 years in prison for his conviction on a gunpossession charge. Police had arrested Telfair in 2017 after finding a loaded pistol in his pickup truck during a traffic stop.