Heartbreak for Murray as Machac wins three-and-a-half hour marathon in Miami

Tomas Machac edged out Andy Murray 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5) to move into the last 16 of the Miami Masters at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday evening.

The match held about as much drama as a tennis match can, with more ebbs and flows than a tidal estuary as two-time champion Murray came within two points of an incredible victory.

Drama-filled match sees Murray fall painstakingly short

After winning the opening set and taking the second through to 5-5, it looked as though Murray was a good chance of putting this clash away in straight sets. That is, until the Scot lost his serve in the 11th game, subsequently dropping the set 7-5.

When Murray quickly fell behind 5-2 in the decider, it seemed there would be no fairytale for the injury-riddled former world No 1. The match was far from done, however, with Murray breaking Machac to stay in the match, and clawing his way back to level pegging in the third set.

Just as all momentum was with the 36-year-old, disaster struck. In the follow through of his forehand which leveled the match at 5-5, Murray appeared to wrench an ankle, immediately hobbling and unable to put any weight on the foot. Down on his knees and screaming in pain, not only the match but the remainder of Murray’s career seemed in jeopardy.

Thankfully, the injury wasn’t as serious as it initially appeared. While it did hamper his movement in the next game – which Machac won to love – the Scot was able to continue the match. At 6-5 down, Murray even saved a match point, taking the clash to a deciding tiebreak.

After the better part of three-and-a-half hours, the perfect fairytale was just two points away from being written. Murray had come back from 5-2 down in the third, but was now up 5-3 in the tiebreak and on the cusp of an epic victory.

It wasn’t to be though, as some sublime tennis from Machac saw the Czech rattle off four points in a row under pressure, claiming the breaker 7-5 and breaking the hearts of almost all watching.

Machac, ranked No 60, will face Italian Matteo Arnaldi next.

Tomas Machac beat American wildcard Darwin Blanch (6-4, 6-2) and Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed (6-4, 6-4) ahead of his victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Murray, ranked No 62, edged out Italian Matteo Berrettini (4-6, 6-3, 6-4) and won against Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 29 seed (7-6, 6-3).

Miami Masters 1000, other third-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 10.404.205, most recent results first):

• Cameron Norrie vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Alexei Popyrin vs. Fabian Marozsan
• Alex De Minaur vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Karen Khachanov
• Alexander Zverev vs. Christopher Eubanks
• Sebastian Korda vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Ben Shelton
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Gael Monfils
• Ugo Humbert vs. Dominik Koepfer
• Casper Ruud vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Thiago Seyboth Wild
• Martin Damm vs. Christopher O’Connell: sunday
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Denis Shapovalov: 6-3, 7-6 (7)
• Jannik Sinner (2) beat Tallon Griekspoor (25): 5-7, 7-5, 6-1