Andy Murray vs. Nick Kyrgios: Score and Reaction from 2015 French Open
Andy Murray booked his place in the fourth round of the French Open in comprehensive style, as he cruised to a straight sets victory over Nick Kyrgios—6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
While it seemed the Scot would be in for an easy ride on Saturday morning, it turned out to be anything but against the hugely impressive Kyrgios.
In the opening set, he had the run on Murray and was playing him out of points in style—making it clear early on that the No. 3 seed was in for a match.
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Kyrgios even hit a tremendous backhand that forced Murray to exclaim “oh, what a shot” before trying in vain to return it.
They were exchanging blows throughout the first set, with exhibition rallies giving the Roland Garros crowd plenty to enjoy.
The Australian’s work at the net was something to admire, but it was a baseline lob in the seventh game that really caught the eye, as Roland Garros’ video shows:
Murray, however, went on to win that game and the one break was enough to hand him the opener.
Then came the turning point of the match.
Kyrgios picked up a wrist injury in the second set despite a strong start, and it was the beginning of the end for the world No. 30.
Before that, he was serving with aggression and producing some blockbuster, powerful shots, but he was suddenly reduced back to third gear.
Murray made light work of the second set with a 6-2 triumph, and with Kyrgios far from firing on all cylinders, there was only going to be one result from then on.
Kyrgios did take the first two games of the third set with some excellent tennis, but he just ran out of steam in the latter stages.
His serves just weren’t posing Murray any problems, and after falling another game behind, he cheekily pardoned himself to the crowd—per the BBC’s Kheredine Idessane:
Murray eventually prevailed after a topsy-turvy deuce game to take the final set 6-3, and although Kyrgios’ injury made life easy for the Scot, take nothing away from his performance.
Even when his opponent was producing great tennis, Murray kept his wits about him and got his tactics right on a surface that’s treated him well this year—per Roland Garros:
The 28-year-old’s unbeaten run is testament to his stunning form of late, although he was very modest in his post-match interview about his clay ability—via BBC Sport:
"It is never easy for me. Clay is not a surface that I have ever felt comfortable on. The matches get tougher every round and hopefully I can play some good tennis next week. I'm not sure you can say that I'm a clay-court specialist! There is one guy in this tournament who has won it nine times and I have never been to the final.
"
His next step on trying to make the final will be against either David Goffin or Jeremy Chardy in the fourth round, but if he shows the professionalism and intelligence he did against Kyrgios, the quarter-finals await.
British records at the French Open aren’t exactly glowing, but based on this form, it would be far from surprising to see Murray put his region back on the clay-court map.
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