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Former world number one tennis ace, Andy Murray entered the third round of the ATP 500 event in Washington DC, beating the British number 1 Kyle Edmund 7-6(7-4), 1-6, 6-4 in two hours and 32 minutes. It was a revenge for his loss to Edmund in straight sets in Eastbourne 5 weeks ago in June before the Scot decided to pull out of Wimbledon.
It was the best presentation by the three-time Grand Slam champion since his hip surgery in January. This is the first time since Wimbledon 2017 that the current World No. 832 has won consecutive matches.
The 31-year-old pulled out of Wimbledon this year stating that the five-set matches will be too soon into his recovery and that he was aiming for a return on the US hardcourts. The Scot started his preparation for the final Grand Slam event of the year by beating the American Mackenzie Mcdonald in the first round of the Citi Open in 3 sets, playing his first hardcourt event in 17 months to set up a match against the 4th seeded Kyle Edmund.
The British duo locked horns only for the fourth time in their career, with Murray leading the head-to-head 3-1 after this match. The first set was an even set with Edmund breaking Murray in the 11th game, but was broken back while serving for the set.
Murray then went on to secure the first set, winning the tie break 7-4. Edmund then clinched the 2nd set quite easily, breaking Andy two times with a scoreline of 6-1. The deciding set was even till 4-4 with Edmund saving two break points. But a composed Murray then took one to seal the match with a cross court backhand.
Edmund, 23, who was suffering from tonsils, played his first match after the his loss to Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon. A visibly tired Edmund said after the match, "I gave my best of what I had on the day, it didn't worked out."
Murray, staying positive, stated, "I feel better than I did during the grass court season, which is positive. I felt a lot better in the build-up to this tournament.
"So things are still getting better and I've lasted fairly well through two long matches here on a tough surface on the body. Hopefully my body will start to adjust to the matches and realize what it's supposed to be again."
He will play the Romanian Marius Copil in the third round, with Murray leading the head-to-head 1-0.
Murray has to win tournaments to gain confidence as he said, "the ranking doesn't affect him as such, he just wants to win more tournaments and is concentrating on that."
