(Mason) Britain’s Andy Murray won 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-5 over Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka in the opening round of the Western & Southern Open on Monday.
Updated yesterday at 10:20 p.m.
In this duel featuring two three-time Grand Slam champions looking to put injuries behind them, Murray and Wawrinka both needed multiple visits from the trainers in the nearly three-hour clash.
The 37-year-old Wawrinka has had two surgeries on his left foot in 2021 and he’s lost in the first round in his last four tournaments. The 35-year-old Murray suffered a pulled abdomen just two weeks before Wimbledon, but reached the second round for the first time in his last three tournaments.
“I was hanging on in the third set,” Murray said in his post-game on-court interview. I had a little difficulty. Just like Stan. We are no longer young. »
American Serena Williams was due to face 19-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu, the defending U.S. Open champion, in a first-round match on Monday. The duel was pushed back to Tuesday due to what organizers described as “a number of scheduling factors”.
Raducanu was nervous to go up against Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and is preparing to retire at 40.
Williams has made it known that she wants to give birth to another child and pursue business opportunities. She hasn’t revealed what her final tournament will be yet, but she gave the impression that her swan song will be at the US Open, which begins Aug. 29 in New York.
Williams lost 6-2, 6-4 to Belinda Bencic on Wednesday night in Toronto in her first game since announcing her intentions.
In other men’s matches, Britain’s Cameron Norrie, 9e seeded Argentinian Diego Schwartzman (13e), Croatian Marin Cilic (14e) and Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut (15e) made it through the first round.
Italian Matteo Berrettini (12e) was not as successful, however, losing in three sets to American Frances Tiafoe.
On the women’s side, American Amanda Anisimova upset Russia’s Daria Kasatkina (No. 9) 6-4, 6-4.
Alison Riske and Caty McNally, also from the United States, Kazakh Elena Rybakina, Russian Veronika Kudermetova, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Czechs Petra Kvitova and Tereza Martincova also reached the second round.