Shanghai: Andy Murray went down fighting in a bruising three-set defeat to 12th-ranked Italian Fabio Fognini here Tuesday at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament. Fabio Fognini won 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 7-6 (7/2).
In a bad-tempered match that stretched past three hours, the two players confronted one another near the end at the crossover.
Andy Murray’s defeat came hours after the Australian Open organisers said the former World No.1 will make his return to Grand Slam tennis there in January, a year after a career-saving hip operation. The 32-year-old Briton has said that his hip is now fine but he needs to build up his match fitness and speed across the court.
Murray, however, will be pleased at how he was able to go toe-to-toe with Fognini even as the match clock ticked past three tough hours on court. But he will be kicking himself for failing to put Fognini away when he was serving for the match at 6-5 in the third set.
The 32-year-old Fognini and Murray had a lengthy exchange at the net and bad blood boiled between them throughout. They shared the briefest of handshakes at the end.
Andy Murray, who generally looked more relaxed than he did in victory Monday, was two points from winning the first set. But the colourful Fognini fought back to level the set at 6-6, then edged past the Brit in the tie-break.
However, Fognini appeared to switch off in the second set, allowing Murray to level. The deciding third set was punishing, taking 22 minutes to play just two games.
Despite the defeat, Murray’s comeback is going better than even he expected. He reached his first singles quarterfinal in a year at last week’s China Open, defeating 13th-ranked US Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini on the way.
Two weeks ago in Zhuhai, southern China, Murray won his first ATP Tour singles match since surgery.
AFP
