For three hours and 28 minutes, Andy Murray battled with everything he had, even when he almost had nothing. First he played brilliantly in the early stages against the talented Tomas Machac, but he just could not find a way to close it out. Then just as the match seemed to be passing him by, Murray mounted an incredible comeback. In the final, decisive moments, Murray hurt his left ankle, yet somehow he still battled on.
In these last months of one of the great careers of this century, the Scot gave yet another demonstration of his resilience and heart, but it still was not enough. He limped out of the Miami Open on Sunday with an agonising 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5) defeat to Machac in the third round.
The defeat alone was excruciating, with Murray playing so well and giving himself a chance for a big result in one of the most important cities of his career, but he departed having encountered the worst possible scenario. He must now tend to an injury with the grass-court season just a couple of months away. After an extremely difficult year, where basic wins have been so hard to come by for the first time, Murray has played his best tennis of the year in Miami. With his wins over Matteo Berrettini and Tomás Martín Etcheverry, Murray had won two matches in a row for the first time since August. He was attempting to win three matches at a Masters 1000 or above for the first time since Wimbledon 2017.
A talented 23-year-old Czech ranked No 62, Machac has been gradually rising up the rankings and on Friday he pulled off a career-best win, defeating Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-4 for his first top-10 win.
Throughout an excellent first set, Murray served brilliantly, allowing himself easier points and the opportunity to put sustained pressure on his opponent’s serve. He generated nine break points throughout the first set, facing none, before finally breaking Machac’s serve. He finished the set with eight aces and supreme 86% of first-serve points won.
A 35-minute rain delay forced the players off the court at 2-1 to Machac in the second set, and they returned to a different match. While the Czech attacked relentlessly throughout the second set, closing down the net at every opportunity and holding serve easily, Murray came under increasing pressure on his serve. He landed just 46% of first serves in set two, allowing Machac too many looks at his second serve, who pounced.
Murray ended the set ranting at the umpire, Carlos Bernardes, enraged after the pair disagreed about whether fans in the crowd were moving during play. Most of all, he was angry at himself. He could not shake the negative momentum at the beginning of the final set, as Machac moved up 3-0 in the blink of an eye.
Still, he fought desperately until the end and, after generating three break points as Machac served out the match at 5-3, the Briton dragged the match back on to serve. Just as Murray held serve to level the match at 5-5, though, he landed awkwardly on his left ankle and immediately pulled up in pain. Murray hobbled to his chair and he was seen by the physio but he opted against his ankle being taped.
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He may have been moving at half-speed until the end of the match, but Murray refused to give in. He saved match points on his serve while constantly calling on the crowd to carry him through. After holding serve to force a final set tie-break, he somehow dragged himself to a 5-4 lead. It was still not enough; Machac steadied himself and rolled through the final three points to close out an unforgettable match.
In her first full tournament since turning 20, Coco Gauff continued to show her consistency and problem solving abilities as she recovered from 2-4, break point down before reeling off 10 games in a row to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Océane Dodin of France. During the early hours of Sunday morning, Katie Boulter dismantled Beatriz Haddad Maia, the 11th seed, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.
