It was the eighth time Murray has come from two sets down in his career to win, and those looking for an omen might note he did so against Fernando Verdasco on his way to winning The Championships, Wimbledon in 2013.
Advertisement
Andy Murray was relieved to defeat world No. 35 Adrian Mannarino of France on Thursday. I think there’s a few of the players have had it. My brother was sick the other day and there has been something going around.
Murray was sweating buckets but somehow found the inner strength to brilliantly come back from two sets down to see off the Frenchman and book a third round clash with Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci today.
“He has such an unorthodox game, I didn’t really feel that comfortable at many points”, Murray said. “His body was at a deficit of whatever it is – sodium, magnesium, potassium”. Unfortunately, you don’t always have the luxury of winning matches in straight sets. “But, yeah, I was happy, very happy with the way I fought through that, you know, finished the match stronger than him”.
“He’s got a tough section because, if you look at it, it could be Stan Wawrinka, then Roger Federer, then Novak Djokovic in the final so he’ll want to be efficient”. The only thing I’ve taken is Vitamin C – there’s not much you can take.
“That would have been very tough to recover from”.
Recalling what happened when she reached No. 2 in the world for the first time, Halep said in an on-court interview: “I lost my mind a little bit”. Mentally it can also be a challenge to not get too frustrated because it’s easy to mis-hit balls in the wind. “That definitely helped me here today”, Murray added in a raspy voice caused by a head cold. I was just bending over.
Konta, who will face the 18th seed, Andrea Petkovic, on Saturday, said: “I’m very exhausted right now but it’s a good exhausted because it just shows that I left everything out there”. I think I was one for seven on break points or something.
On the same court immediately afterwards, Aljaz Bedene had plenty of chances against Donald Young but the American made more of his, converting nine of 16 break points, to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 42 minutes.
He kept a grip on the set 4-1, broke Mannarino again in the sixth game and rounded off the set with another game to love in a total of just 31 minutes.
Early in the fourth set, Murray doubled over and rested his hands on his knees after a couple of points, the sort of thing the Brit has been known to do during matches – appearing exhausted or injured yet able to still play well.
Lleyton Hewitt’s last match at the tournament before his retirement ended in typical fashion as he took Bernard Tomic, his fellow Australian, to five sets before losing 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5.
Roger Federer had his rhythm from the start, compiling a 46-8 edge in winners while beating Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 at night, before 2014 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki was stunned by Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (1) in the day’s last match.
Advertisement
“It was extremely tough”, Murray said. He’s played well this year. Up against Chung Hyeon of South Korea, Wawrinka sweated it out on court against the 19-year-old, finally holding his own; the Swiss took 3 hours to reach victory, and acknowledged that the match could have “gone to more than three sets” in a press conference following play. He’s aggressive and likes to try and dictate from there and he has won his two matches here very comfortably.
