Citi Open: No fairytale for Murray as Fritz wins three-hour arm-wrestle

Top seed Taylor Fritz has ended Andy Murray‘s run at the Citi Open 2023, winning a high-quality, three-hour long match at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington on Friday afternoon, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4.

It was a clash that fans were made to wait for, thanks to the Washington rain that delayed this match from Thursday night until Friday afternoon. Still, the players delivered, with both men bringing their best and playing some of the most competitive tennis the ATP Tour has seen this season.

Throughout the contest, both men maintained a high level, with more winners hit than unforced errors from both players. For Murray, it was the drop shot and slice backhand that brought great reward, while Fritz was as imperious as ever on the serve, thundering down 17 aces across the match.

Big serving under pressure saves Fritz yet again

Murray did well to dig himself out of a hole in the first set, having given up a break in the opening game of the match. Needing to break Fritz’s serve at 5-4 in the opening set, Murray did just that, leveling the match up at 5-5 and going on to win the tiebreaker.

While Fritz bounced back strong to win the second set 6-3, it was Andy Murray who set the pace in the third. The Brit was virtually untouchable on serve, and created multiple opportunities on Fritz’s serve. However, the American served brilliantly under pressure as he has the past fortnight, saving double break point at 2-3 and triple break point at 5-4.

The turning point of the match came when Murray’s serve faltered, with the former No 1 going down 0-40 and being broken two points later to give Fritz a 5-4 lead in the third.

Tellingly, Fritz saved 8/9 break points in the match, while Murray was broken three times. Fritz, ranked No 9, will play Australian Jordan Thompson later tonight in the Citi Open quarter-finals.

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Tennis Majors

Washington ATP500, other last 16 results (Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, hard, USD 2.013.940, most recent results first):

• Juncheng Shang vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Daniel Evans (9) beat Alexander Shevchenko: 6-4, 6-3
• Tallon Griekspoor (12) beat Gael Monfils (WC): 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
• Jordan Thompson beat Christopher Eubanks (11): 6-2, 6-2
• Ugo Humbert (13) beat Yosuke Watanuki: 6-0, 6-2
• Grigor Dimitrov (5) beat Emil Ruusuvuori: 6-4, 6-3
• J.J. Wolf (16) beat Michael Mmoh: 6-4, 7-6 (5)