Impressive Andy Murray beats Alexander Zverev at Western and Southern Open

[ASFN Admin]

Andy Murray scored his best win on rankings for almost four years as he overcame Alexander Zverev, the world No 7, at the Western and Southern Open in New York on Monday night. It wasn’t a classic, and Zverev self-destructed in the closing stages, but the result was testament to Murray’s strength of mind. This was the sort of bloody-minded scrap that the former world No 1 has built a career on. “It would have been a tough one to lose,” Murray said after his 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory, his first win over a player from the world's top 10 since 2017. “Throughout my career I have found ways to win against good players when I haven’t necessarily been playing my best tennis. I did that today and that’s a good sign. “Ideally I would like to play shorter matches and win matches quicker. But I said before the tournament that I wanted matches, and tomorrow” – when he faces Dan Evans’s conqueror Milos Raonic – “should give me a good idea of where my body is at. I would expect to be tired but I will try to push myself hard tomorrow, regardless of the result.” Murray made a fine start, leaping out to a 4-1 lead after an early break that eventually brought him the first set. At this stage, he was moving so well that he almost looked back to his old self, before the insertion of the notorious metal hip in January 2019.

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