Teymuraz Gabashvili ousts Andy Murray from Washington Open
Top seed Andy Murray suffered a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) loss at the hands of Teymuraz Gabashvili on Wednesday.
Playing his first match on hard court in over four months, Murray failed to capitalize on his chances against the Russian. Gabashvili got off to a brilliant start in the opening set as he led 4-1,but Murray broke back to bring it on serve. Murray won just 10 points on his first serve in the opening set and was broken in the 10th game to trail by a set.
The World No. 3 got 59 % of first serves in the second set and converted one of two break point opportunities to even things at one set apiece. Murray broke Gabashvili in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead. However, he was broken right back when his backhand sailed long on break point.
In the third set breaker, Murray led 4-3 only to lose the next four points and the match with uncharacteristic errors.
Murray and Daniel Nestor lost to the Indo-Romanian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea in the first round of doubles on Monday. The 2-time Major champion will play in Montreal and Cincinnati before heading to New York for the US Open.
Here are the highlights:
In other results, American John Isner beat Victor Estrella Burgos 6-3, 7-6 (5). He won 70% of his first service points, hit 17 aces and did not face a single break point on his serve. Isner will take on Vasek Pospisil in the next round.
No. 4 seed Richard Gasquet rallied back to beat Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. He will face American Jack Sock in the next round. Grigor Dimitrov got the better of qualifier Guido Pella 7-6(1), 6-4 and will face Steve Johnson next. Johnson beat Bernard Tomic 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-2
Lleyton Hewitt, who got a wild card for the Citi Open was ousted by Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The Spaniard’s next opponent is big serving Australian Sam Groth, who took out Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4.
Alexander Zverev caused an upset by ousting South African Kevin Anderson 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. He will take on Alexandr Dolgopolov, who beat Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the next round.