By Erik Gudris | Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Teymuraz Gabashvili earned the biggest win of his career after edging top seed Andy Murray at the Citi Open.
Photo Credit: Citi Open
Top seed Andy Murray may have hoped his earlier than usual start to the summer hard court season would prepare him well for the US Open. But Murray is now left with extra time on his hands after a surprise early exit at the Citi Open in Washington D.C.
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That exit came at the hands of Russia's Teymuraz Gabashvili who in Wednesday's second round night match extended Murray into a final set tiebreak that went in favor of the World No. 53.
Gabashvili later admitted that it ranked as perhaps the best win of his career.
"When you win easy, it’s one thing, but when you win 7-6 in the third against Andy Murray, it’s something special for sure.”
Gabashvili started well against Murray right from the start by taking a 4-1 lead in the first set. Murray would get one of the breaks back, but then found himself broken in the tenth game. With that, Gabashvili claimed the set 6-4.
Using a combination of potent serving and groundstrokes, Gabashvili kept up his high level in the second set. Murray, who throughout the night could not find the right combination of shots or tactics to rise above his opponent, had to wait for his opportunity instead. That came midway through the set when Gabashvili, down break point, hit a smash well wide.
Now with the break, Murray went on to close out the set 6-4 to the delight of many in the crowd who probably expected the top seed to quickly finish things off.
That didn't happen though in the final set even when Gabashvili called a medical time out to have his lower leg taped as a precaution. With both men engaging in several extended hard-hitting rallies, neither man blinked in their own service games. That was until Murray broke for 5-4 to give himself a chance to serve out the match.
Yet even that was not a foregone conclusion as Gabashvili pounced on a tentative Murray to break back for 5-all. From there the crowd seemed split on who to root for - the underdog or the tournament's biggest name. Both players battled not only each other but their own emotions as they alternated from animated tension to trying to keep calm after a losing point.
Eventually a final set tiebreak was needed, but once again, Murray could not find the solution to Gabashvili's game. As Murray failed to make needed returns, he soon found himself down match points. Soon it was Gabashvili who prevailed on the final point and then celebrated with a raised fist the hard fought 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory in the nearly three hour battle.
Murray felt that Gabashvili served very well, the Scot was disappointed in his own return game especially in the pivotal tiebreak.
“I normally back myself to return a little bit better than I did. I think in the tie-break I don’t think I put one return in the court when he was serving. I feel like I didn’t do a good enough job of putting enough first serve points in the court,” Murray said.
It's now back to the drawing board for Murray who, despite the turnaround from grass to hard courts, will try to find some positives from the loss.
"It was the first hard-court match for four-and-a-half months with only four or five days of preparation so I was happy with how I moved and did certain things on court. But there are some things for me to improve and hopefully with a few more days and having that match under my belt I’ll be able to make some improvements for the next few weeks.”
Gabashvili, who was recently named World Team Tennis MVP as part of the Austin Aces, credited his play in the team event as a key to his success against Murray.
“I was exhausted at the end because my body was really tired but I learnt to play good points and I learnt to play aggressive and without any fear because you have to fight for every point,” Gabashvili said. "I knew if I just played confident and try my weapons and let’s see how it goes and it went to my side."
Murray's exit marked the first time at the event since 1993 that the top seed lost their opening match. The last man to do that was Murray's former coach Ivan Lendl.
Other winners on the men's side included John Isner, Grigor Dimitrov, and Alexander Zverev who upset No. 5 seed Kevin Anderson.