Murray defeated 22nd seed Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in the 4th round of the US Open to reach the quarters.
Advertisement
Nishikori, the No. 6 seed, was the aggressor for most of the contest, striking 48 winners to Murray’s 29 and also winning nearly twice as many net points (going 27-of-39 on his net approaches compared to 14-of-25 for the Scotsman).
He needed four sets to beat Jerzy Janowicz in his first match before he enjoyed a walkover in the second, an injury-enforced retirement in the third followed by a comfortable win over Briton’s Kyle Edmund in the last-16.
“I hadn’t been sleeping great here, just didn’t feel great the last few days”, Murray told British newspapers including The Sun, The Times and The Guardian.
Andy Murray highlighted an eventless day at the US Open tennis tournament with all the big names winning their respective matches at the Flashing Meadows.
“They stopped the point and I was just curious why that was and that was it”, Murray said. I never do that. “That was the difference”.
Murray, who was unhappy with the umpire’s let call due to the noise, lost seven consecutive games after play resumed.
“Exactly the same thing”, Murray exclaimed.
She will face 92nd-ranked Ana Konjuh, an 18-year-old from Croatia who upset No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4 by compiling a 38-9 edge in winners.
Looking ahead to the Australian Open, Murray is going to be under an intense microscope. But he wouldn’t take another game.
Dimitrov broke only once in the match in the fourth game of the second set but it was a brief respite as Murray quickly reclaimed it before taking 10 of the next 12 games to seal the rout.
Murray slammed his racket against the net and cursed. “It definitely helped for my game today”.
“Unfortunately, I’m in the part of the draw with Serena”, Pliskova said.
“He’s a great returner, there were lots of up and downs”.
The victor will face Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro or Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka, who meet in the night session at about 02:00 on Thursday. She hadn’t been past the third round at a major before this tournament and upset fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska on Monday for her first win over a top-10 opponent.
Maybe that made a difference.
“Grigor played his best but I didn’t really give him a chance to get into the match”.
The Scot looked to have regained control after breaking back and levelling at 2-2 in the fifth set but he was then broken for the eighth occasion in the match, this time from 40-15.
Next up for Murray is Japan’s Olympic bronze medallist Kei Nishikori. His coach, eight-time major champion Ivan Lendl, did not exactly mirror that celebratory mood, sitting with chin on hand up in the guest box.
Advertisement
He even was credited with one serve at 141mph (227km/h), which he said would be the first of his career that topped 140. At 1-all in the fourth, though, everything changed.
