Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship 2022 - Andy Murray ground down by Jannik Sinner in last-16
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 23/02/2022 at 16:20 GMT
Andy Murray is out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship after losing in straight sets to Jannik Sinner in the last 16, 7-5, 6-2. Murray was unable to bring up a single break point during the match and Sinner was all over the former world number one in the second set to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Andy Murray is out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship after losing in straight sets to Jannik Sinner
Image credit: Getty Images
Andy Murray was outplayed by Jannik Sinner to lose out on a place in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship.
The former world number one was beaten in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2 in a match the Italian took complete control of in the second set, as Murray’s serve struggled to make an impact.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was unable to bring up a single break point throughout the match and found himself with too much to do after going a double break down in the second.
"Obviously it's something I want to achieve [700 career wins]," Murray said in his post-match press conference.
"Unless something went horribly wrong in the next six, eight months, I will get to that number. But, yeah, there's no excuse for some of the performances I've had recently in terms of how I've been playing.
"I need time on the practice court. I need consistency in terms of the things that I'm working on, consistent messages.
I mentally need to be a lot tougher than what I have been in some of my matches recently.
With the sun belting down, Murray’s own temperature began to rise in the fifth game of the first set, berating himself and slamming the racquet into the ground several times as he went two break points down. But the former world number one survived before heading to the chair shaking his head in apparent disbelief that he had let the opportunity surface.
Both players had half chances to break serve, but Sinner took his opportunity in the 10th, which turned out to be an extremely loose service game from Murray. The Italian broke to love with a Murray volley into the net and he followed that up by serving to 30 to secure the opening set 7-5.
It meant Murray again needed to go the distance to progress through to the next round, having needed three sets to get past Christopher O’Connell. That looked to be unlikely from the opening game of the second set.
Murray’s serve continued to be off and he was broken immediately at the start of the second set, but statistics were showing he was on the back foot, playing almost half of his shots in the opening set two metres behind the baseline.
The double Olympic gold medallist was not being given an easy ride by Sinner in any of his service games and he had to save a break point in the third game. Murray was 3-1 down when he was involved in a lengthy service game, saving three break points before the Italian finally converted.
Murray returned to his chair and exchanged words with the umpire, but Sinner was proving unplayable. The world number 10 barely gave Murray a sniff for the remainder of the match to reach the last eight for the second year in a row with his first win over the Brit.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement