Murray came through a two-hour-and-57-minute battle against fellow three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka on Monday to earn his first win of the North American hard-court season. The world No 47 suffered back-to-back first-round losses in Washington and Montreal, suffering with cramping in his Citi Open defeat to Mikael Ymer.
And the cramps came back to haunt him in the final set of his match with Wawrinka as he received several rounds of treatment during changeovers and threw in an underarm serve early in the set as he struggled. The 35-year-old has now admitted that he needed to get his fitness in check ahead of his upcoming clash with British No 1 Norrie.
“I started to feel it a little bit the middle of the second and then yeah, was struggling at the beginning of the third,” he told Amazon Prime Video after the match. “Tried to get as many electrolytes and salt, obviously saw the physio a little bit which helped. But I struggled with the cramps in Washington a couple of weeks ago against Ymer and again today so need to get on top of that.”
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“Cam has had a brilliant year – not just the last year but the last 18 months,” Murray said of his fellow Brit. “He’s played top level tennis, very, very consistent. It will be a big test for me.”
And the world No 47 joked that he would be requesting a day off but is in luck, with his second-round match not appearing on Tuesday’s schedule. He laughed: “I’m hoping there’s a day off, I’ll go and ask for one now if not but it will be a good test for me and another match heading into the US Open.”
