Pospisil pulls off Murray stunner
Print Edition
ANDY Murray was stunned in his opening match at the BNP Paribas Open by a man ranked 128 places below him, losing 4-6, 6-7 (4) to Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil on Saturday night.
It was, without a doubt, the biggest singles victory of his career for Pospisil, who spun around and flung away his racket after smacking a forehand winner to convert his fourth match point. Pospisil’s best accomplishment in tennis to date was winning a Wimbledon doubles title with Jack Sock of the US in 2014.
There really was little reason to believe beforehand that Murray would have so much trouble on Saturday. The Scot is, after all, ranked No. 1, owns three grand slam singles titles and two Olympic singles golds, has about US$55 million more in career earnings than Pospisil and a 45-0 edge in singles trophies.
Plus, Murray had won all four previous head-to-head matchups.
But Pospisil attacked second serves with great success this time and broke Murray four times while also keeping him off-balance with strong net play.
The tone was established early on in the second-round match. Murray, who had a bye in the first round, broke Pospisil twice in the opening set, but gave that edge back each time, winning only 1 of 9 second-serve points in that set.
Pospisil broke again to open the third, then held for 2-0 and had two break points to go up 3-0 after Murray double-faulted for the sixth time. But Murray held there, then broke back, and was steadier until the tiebreaker. Yet another double-fault gave Pospisil a 3-1 lead, and he stretched that to 6-2, before relenting just a bit on the way to the upset.
Other seeded men losing on Saturday: No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 19 Ivo Karlovic and No. 30 Feliciano Lopez.
Murray failed to mount the sort of comeback that Venus Williams fashioned earlier, when she cast aside three match points to get past another former No. 1, Jelena Jankovic, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Williams, 36, moved into the third round at Indian Wells, California, for the first time since 2001, the year she and her father were jeered after she withdrew from her semifinal against younger sister Serena because of an injury. Williams boycotted the hardcourt tournament until returning last year.
Also, Madison Keys played — and won — her first match of 2017 after time off because of a wrist operation, beating Spain’s Mariana Duque-Marino 6-1, 7-5. Keys, a 22-year-old American ranked No. 9, had arthroscopic surgery on her left wrist shortly after the season-ending WTA Finals in October.
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