Who stayed up to watch Andy Murray down Nick Kyrgios last night? No doubt today’s tired eyes and constant yawning was worth it!
The ‘popcorn’ match finished in the early hours with the British No.1 overcoming the talented Australian 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in two hours and 43 minutes on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Murray continued his record of never having lost to an Australian on tour in 13 attempts and has now knocked Kyrgios out of three Grand Slams this year.
The world No.3, who goes on to face tricky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino next, said afterwards: “I expected a tough match and that’s what I got.
“He obviously just missed out on the seeding here and he’s played well pretty much in every Grand Slam tournament he’s been part of.
“He has enjoyed big wins and pushed a lot of guys extremely hard and caused a few upsets as well.
“He has an excellent serve, one of the best on the tour, but there are five or 10 minute periods in the match where he has dips, misses a few serves, gets distracted or loses concentration. That’s where I capitalised tonight.”
Seven breaks of serve did the trick for the 2012 champion and despite being broken to lose the third set, a comfortable fourth followed.
Match facts
|
Player
|
Aces
|
Winners
|
Errors
|
B/P won
|
|
Murray
|
18
|
46
|
23
|
7/15
|
|
Kyrgios
|
11
|
42
|
39
|
3/14
|
On facing Mannarino on Thursday, Murray said: “He’s a tricky player, a lefty. He has excellent timing and he’s quick, a good athlete with very good hands. He’s a talented guy.
“He’s had some good results this year. It will be a tough match, for sure.”