Andy Murray lost 7-6, 3-6, 4-6 to American star Taylor Fritz on Friday in an action-packed match in the last 16 of the Citi Open as he avoids a doubleheader which could have seen the Brit also take on Jordan Thompson later on the same day. In Murray’s first tournament since his Wimbledon second-round defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas, he was disrupted by climate protests that caused the match to be paused as once again tennis fell victim to disruption – similar to demonstrations last month at SW19.
In a first set that took nearly an hour-and-a-half to play, Fritz broke Murray on the first game – much to the veteran’s frustrations as he smashed his racket into the floor in frustration shortly after letting out loud shrieks as he was livid with his service.
The three-time Grand Slam champion may have felt fortunate to still be in the set having won a couple of games back from one of the tournament favourites, before climate protestors caused the match to be paused for five-and-a-half minutes as they threw oversized custom tennis balls onto the court.
They held up banners protesting climate change and calling for an end to fossil fuels, before being escorted out of the arena by local police. Murray and Fritz had taken their seats, but after a lengthy stoppage resumed play and Murray gradually came back into the tie, saving three set points before forcing a tiebreak that he won 7-2 in extremely humid conditions.
Murray found himself down a break early in the second as once again he shouted in anguish, but this time was unable to respond in the same resilient fashion and went down 3-6 as Fritz’s strong service game and high intensity gave him the edge.
In the decider, Murray enjoyed a better start than the previous two sets by holding his serve despite looking visibly exhausted, as neither player were able to force a break until the ninth game when the intensity and length of the match appeared to be too much for Murray and Fritz delighted his home crowd with victory, coming back from a 40-0 deficit to claim the third and final set after three hours of play.
The match had originally been scheduled for Thursday, but poor weather conditions created a potentially nightmare scenario as they were moved to Friday’s evening session as play was suspended on the outer courts and Murray v Fritz was pushed back in an attempt by the organisers to complete the delayed ties.
The Citi Open schedule-makers have insisted that the quarter-final could also be played today between Fritz and Thompson, who defeated Christopher Eubanks, which would take place each player received “after suitable rest” although the tournament is yet to clarify how long that rest would need to be – especially after such a gruelling match.
Two matches in the same day would have seen Murray fall victim to the schedule once again having been forced to play what could be his final Wimbledon match over two days thanks to the SW19 curfew.
Murray has upped his conditioning for this tournament in a bid to give him a physical edge, something he needed to call upon against Fritz, but especially would have been the case should he have won and was staring at the possibility of playing twice in the same day. “I did a lot of heat training in heat chambers and bike sessions in pretty brutal conditions to try and prepare myself for it,” Murray said before the tournament.
“It doesn’t make going on the court that much easier, but if you’ve done that work and your opponent hasn’t, it can give you that little physical, psychological edge and I like that.
“I think a challenge for all of the players is the conditions. You’ve gone from playing across the grass season where physically it’s pretty straightforward in terms of you’re not getting any extreme weather, the points tend to be a little bit shorter, it’s a bit easier on the body.”