Murray, Venus defeated in Washington openers
Three-time Grand Slam
champion Andy Murray of Britain crashed out in the opening round of the ATP and
WTA Washington Open on Monday, falling to Sweden's Mikael Ymer.
The 35-year-old
Scotsman fell to 115th-ranked Ymer 7-6 (10/8), 4-6, 6-1 after two hours and 50
minutes at the US Open tuneup tournament.
"I'm
excited," said Ymer, who saved four set points in the first set. "A
lot left to do but it's a very good start of the American swing."
World number 50 Murray,
the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, is trying to earn a seeding at the US Open,
which he won a decade ago.
"It's still
possible," Murray said. "I would just need to have a good run in
Canada or Cincinnati really. It's pretty straightforward if I was to make a
quarterfinal or a semifinal, which right now -- after a loss like that --
doesn't seem realistic.
"I do feel like if
I play very well that I could do that. But I'll need to certainly play better
than I did today."
Seven-time Grand Slam
champion Venus Williams, playing her first singles match in nearly a year, was
also eliminated in the opening round, falling to Canadian qualifier Rebecca
Marino 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
"It was nice to
have the crowd behind me," Williams said. "Definitely a great
experience. It's my first match so I didn't think I played well a lot of the
times.
"Just trying to
shake off some rust. That's just to be expected. All I can do is just play
another tournament and play better."
Williams had not played
a WTA singles match since falling to Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei 49 weeks ago in
Chicago.
Ymer, who lost his only
career ATP final last August in Winston-Salem, will next face 15th seed Aslan
Karatsev.
Ymer won 75 percent of
his first-serve points, 49-of-65, and smashed 37 winners past Murray, who made
only 25 with 35 unforced errors, five more than Ymer.
Murray had a set point
in the 12th game of the first set but sent a backhand wide and Ymer held into a
tiebreaker.
Murray had three more
set points in the tiebreak but Ymer smashed two forehand winners and a forehand
volley winner to pull level at 7-7, prompting Murray to toss his racquet in
frustration. Ymer, 23, took the set on a backhand volley winner.
"Had chances in
the first set to close that out," Murray said. "Didn't get it. Yeah,
frustrating."
While Murray clawed
back to force a third set, Ymer raced to a 4-0 lead, they exchanged breaks on
double faults and Ymer ended the match on a backhand crosscourt winner.
Two-time Grand Slam
champion Simona Halep, coming off a Wimbledon semi-final run, beat Spanish qualifier
Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 7-5.
"Always the first
round is difficult when you change the surface," third seed Halep said.
"I know it's going to take time to make the game more solid."
US top seed Jessica
Pegula cruised 6-2, 6-2, over US wildcard Hailey Baptiste.
Pegula won the most
recent WTA Washington event in 2019 after two missed years due to Covid-19.
"It definitely
feels weird," Pegula said. "It's great to be back."
- Edmund wins ATP
return -
Britain's Kyle Edmund
made a triumphant return to ATP singles after three left knee surgeries and a
20-month layoff by defeating Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki 6-4, 7-6
(10/8).
Edmund, who next faces
British 16th seed Daniel Evans, played in his first tour-level singles match
since October 2020 at Vienna, a month before his first operation.
"I didn't find it
easy today," said Edmund. "I hung in there and I got my reward in the
end."
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