Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY

A19
SPORTS Wednesday 1 august 2018

Murray tests hip, comes back to edge McDonald in Washington

By HOWARD FENDRICH until June. scheduled to face Ameri-
AP Tennis Writer This match was only Mur- can qualifier Donald
WASHINGTON (AP) — Andy ray's fourth of 2018. No. 5 Young.
Murray let out one yell, will come in the second In other matches, Noah
then another, and violently round of the Citi Open Rubin got past Mikhail You-
pumped his right fist. Quite against Kyle Edmund, the zhny 6-4, 6-4, Tim Smyczek
a reaction, considering this man who overtook him as beat Ricardas Berankis 7-6
was merely a first-round vic- Britain's top-ranked man (4), 6-2, and Malek Jaziri
tory over an inexperienced during Murray's injury ab- defeated Evgeny Donskoy
opponent who recently sence. 6-4, 6-1. Rubin now faces
cracked the top 100 for the "I'll certainly have to play No. 2 seed John Isner, Jaziri
first time. better tennis," Murray said. plays No. 1 seed and de-
Still, this meant something He pulled out of Wimble- fending champion Alexan-
to Murray. don on July 1 because, he der Zverev, while Smyczek
It was a test of his surgically said at the time, it "might meets Zverev's older broth-
repaired hip, and he put be a bit too soon in the re- er, No. 15 seed Mischa.
aside a deficit and some covery process" for his hip In women's results, two-time
real rust to win his first hard- to try to compete in best- major champion Svetlana
court match in nearly 1½ of-five-set matches. Kuznetsova beat Kristie
years, coming back at the Against McDonald, he said, Ahn 6-2, 6-1, Katie Boulter
Citi Open to edge Mack- "the movements and stuff eliminated No. 5 seed Alek-
enzie McDonald of the U.S. were fine. I chased balls sandra Krunic 6-2, 6-0, and
3-6, 6-4, 7-5. down. Andrea Petkovic defeated
"I enjoyed getting through Obviously lasted pretty Jamie Loeb 6-1, 6-1.q Andy Murray of Britain returns against Mackenzie McDonald
that one — obviously, you well." during the first round of the Citi Open tennis tournament,
see by the celebration," Murray played just fine for Monday, July 30, 2018, in Washington.
Murray said after a match the opening 10 minutes, Associated Press
that began a little past 10 breaking for a 2-0 lead. And
p.m. Monday because of then his game devolved for
a rain delay, and ended at quite a lengthy spell into a
12:45 a.m. Tuesday. ragged display, filled with
"It was great to get through six double-faults — two in a
that one," he said, "but in row to get broken to 2-1 —
terms of the actual way and shots that missed the
that I went about the mark.
match and played the The 23-year-old McDon-
match, I wasn't that happy ald, a Californian who won
with it." NCAA singles and doubles
There were stretches when titles at UCLA, made it to
Murray looked very much the fourth round at the All
like exactly what he is at England Club this month,
the moment: a guy work- the first time he had made
ing his back from an opera- it that far at a major tourna-
tion in January. Particularly ment.
when he was failing to con- That put him into the top
vert any of the five match 100, and he's now 80th.
points he held while serving He took six of seven games
for the win at 5-4 in the final in one stretch and was ac-
set. He won on his seventh, tually one point from serv-
though. ing for the victory, holding
Murray is a former No. 1 a break point while already
who owns two Wimbledon ahead by a set and 4-3 in
trophies plus another from the second.
the U.S. Open. But he's Eventually, Murray righted
ranked just 832nd now, on himself, just before rain re-
account of so much time turned.
away. That forced the postpone-
He sat out the second half ment until Tuesday of a
of last season because match involving another
of the bad hip, and then three-time major champ:
didn't compete this year Stan Wawrinka, who was