NEW YORK, September 4, 2016
Andy Murray is into the last 16 of the US Open, making hard work of it on Day 6 at Flushing Meadows. The second seed from Great Britain overcame Paolo Lorenzi 7-6, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. The Italian veteran showed a solid performance in the first couple of sets and Murray was a bit rushed, but the favourite found a balance and came through the final two sets in fairly routine fashion. Murray sealed victory with the help of 60 winners after three hours and 16 minutes.
“I expected a tough match. I expected long rallies. I’m just disappointed with the amount of errors I made. I was quite impatient at times. That cost me in the first and second sets. I worked it out, won, got through, and I didn’t play well. So I’m happy with that,” Murray said. He will next face 22nd seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Juan Martin Del Potro has also marched into the last 16. The former US Open champion came through against David Ferrer in straight sets, winning 7-6, 6-2, 6-3 and that is a second seed that the Argentine has seen off after beating Steve Johnson.
Next up for Del Potro will be Dominic Thiem, who celebrated his 23rd birthday with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win over Winston-Salem Open champion Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the second time in three years.
Evans Pushes Wawrinka To The Limit
The tournament’s number three Stan Wawrinka was one point away from crashing out of the US Open, but managed to come back, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 against Daniel Evans in the night session on Louis Armstrong. The 31-year-old from Switzerland hit 58 winners but also produced 64 unforced errors and had to save one match point to complete the comeback in four hours and two minutes.
“I was frustrated, for sure, to be down two sets to one because I wasn’t playing my best tennis. But I still had a chance. So I was trying to find the right way, how to keep fighting; how to stay in the match,” Wawrinka said. “He was often coming to the net to try to finish the point. I had to play better, to be a little bit more aggressive.”
Next up for the 2015 semi-finalist will be Illya Marchenko, who benefited from the retirement of number 14 seed Nick Kyrgios, leading 4-6, 6-4 ,6-1. Kyrgios injured his hip in the second set and was limping noticeably before conceding the match after the third set. Marchenko has become the only third Ukranian in history to reach the second round of a Grand Slam, following Andrei Medvedev and Alexandr Dolgopolov.
