Andy Murray’s preparations for the US Open hit a brick wall after suffering a shock 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) defeat to unknown Russion Teymuraz Gabashvili during his opening match at the ATP Citi Open in Washington.
The 53rd-ranked Gabashvili blasted 30 winners, apart from his 11 aces, and only made 15 unforced errors, in his triumph over third-ranked Murray in less than 3 hours.
“I was exhausted at the end because my body was really tired but I learnt to play good points and aggressively, without any fear because you have to fight for every point,” Gabashvili told Eurosport after his finest win of the season.
Murray, on the other hand, was upset about his lost but admitted it was tough to come back into hard court action for the first time after the grass season.
“It’s clearly a disappointing match to lose, but there are some things for me to improve and hopefully with a few more days, I’ll be able to make some improvements. It was the first hard-court match for four-and-a-half-months with only 4-5 days of preparation, so I was satisfied with how I moved and did certain things on court.”
There’s no doubt that this is a significant setback for Murray, with the US Open right around the corner. The tournament was a great chance for the Brit to claim a morale-boosting win in the absence of main players such as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Murray will now play Masters events in Montreal and then Cincinnati in the next two weeks in preparation for Flushing Meadows, which begins on August 31.
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