By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday July 13, 2022
The Scot stormed back from a set down to reach the quarterfinals in his first appearance at Newport in 16 years.
Photo Source: Getty
A few days after Wimbledon, Andy Murray is already back in the US and taking his place in the Newport (Infosys Hall of Fame Open) draw for the first time in 16 years. The Scot is making the most of it so far.
The 35-year-old won for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, rallying back to defeat Max Purcell 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 to book a quarterfinal date with Alexander Bublik.
Murray, who lost in the second round at Wimbledon to John Isner, has set a goal of getting seeded ahead of the US Open and he’s already made progress in that direction. The Scot started the week ranked 52 and will jump to at least 49 with his quarterfinal result at Newport.
He could get higher with a few more wins – and there is plenty of tennis left to be played in the US Open Series this summer.
“I really want to try and improve my ranking to a level where I’m getting seeded in slams,” Murray said after his second-round loss to John Isner at Wimbledon two weeks ago. “That was a goal of mine sort of post Miami.
“I’ve spoken to my team a lot about that, and that’s something that I want to try and put myself in a position [to achieve] hopefully come the US Open. If not the US Open, then going into the Australian Open.”
On Wednesday Murray struggled on serve, facing 11 break points and saving seven, but he was tough on return. He won 55 percent of his return games and broke serve seven times from 15 opportunities.
Murray leads the lifetime head to head with Bublik 3-1. The pair have met three times in 2022, with Murray winning two, including the last meeting in the round of 16 on the Stuttgart grass (6-3, 7-6(4)).
Third-seeded Bublik topped Jack Sock, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, while No.2-seeded John Isner eased past Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk, 6-3, 7-6(6).
It’s a stacked draw for this year’s event in Newport. Felix Auger-Aliassime, the top seed is currently battling for a spot in the quarterfinals against Australia’s Jason Kubler.
American’s Maxime Cressy (d. Krueger 6-3, 6-4) and Steve Johnson (walkover to Vesely) also advanced to the quarterfinals.
Johnson will face Cressy and France’s Benjamin Bonzi will face Isner in Thursday’s quarterfinals at Newport. The other two quarterfinals will play on Friday.