The British Andy Murray37 years old, refused to say goodbye to to Queen. The five-time winner of the tournament, the most successful in history, lost Alexei Popyrin (6-3, 3-6 and 6-3) to earn their first victory on grass of the season and win again at Queen’s three years later.
The Scot, who won five titles here between 2009 and 2016, has not won at Queen’s since 2021, when he beat Benoit Paire. Despite not having victories on the surface, after a season-long exit from Stuttgart last week, Murray was strong at home and defeated Popyrin, more confident after passing the qualifying phase.
Murray prepared for Monday’s match with Carlos Alcaraz and they even led Murcia 5-3 in a training set before they decided to stop. The preparation with the Spaniard served Murray who also completed 1,000 matches on the ATP circuit on Tuesday, with 739 wins and 261 losses.
The Scot is the fifth active tennis player to reach 1,000 ATP matches since Novak Djokovic (1.324), Rafael Nadal (1,300), Fernando Verdasco (1,006) and Richard Gasquet (1,004).
Backed by an unwavering audience, the three-time Grand Slam winner bounced back from a second-set loss and took no chances on her serve in the third set allowing her to advance to Queen’s, where she will face another Australian in the round of 16, Jordan Thompson.
Thompson, the executioner of Holger Rune in the first round, beat Murray on the same slopes in 2017, while the Briton got revenge last year at the Surbiton Challenger.
Source: La Verdad
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