The first half of Andy Murray’s season came to a tepid end on Saturday as he was placed under sustained pressure by one of the best players in the world and could not withstand it long enough.
Daniil Medvedev, the first seed, was far too solid for Murray as he eased to a 6-4, 6-2 win in their second round match at the Miami Open.
Despite the one-sided scoreline, Murray did not perform particularly badly. He served reasonably well in the opening set, winning 83% of his first-serve points, he was competitive in the majority of the predictably long exchanges and struck his forehand well. But any positive work was undermined by an error-strewn service game at 1-1 in the opening set.
As Murray attempted to keep up, Medvedev only improved as the match progressed. He gave so little away while maintaining immaculate depth with his groundstrokes and gradually began to pick Murray’s poor second serve apart, winning 73% of points behind it in the second set. Murray left without generating a break point, a difficult statistic to stomach for such a renowned returner.
This defeat will offer Murray a moment to pause and reflect after an uneventful start to the season when he has been unable to build on the promise shown by reaching the final in Sydney in January.
The majority of his tournaments have panned out in similar fashion, often winning his first-round matches, meeting a seeded player in the second round and then losing in two close enough sets. As an unseeded player relying on wildcards to enter tournaments, most of his draws have not been easy and few have fallen his way.
Murray has opted out of contesting the clay court season, meaning he will now begin a training block with eyes already on the grass season and Wimbledon. He will have much to consider as he begins work with his coach, Ivan Lendl, again and looks to see if he can make more progress in the second half of the year.
“I think [he will bring] some clarity over the right way to play and the right way to practise,” said Murray. “I don’t feel I have been practising the right things for 18 months or so and it is difficult to undo that in the space of a few weeks. Hence [that is] one of the reasons I am taking a big period of training to try to change some of those things and get my game into a place where it’s more competitive against the top players again.”
Heather Watson’s positive run ended with a 6-4, 6-1 loss to Belinda Bencic, the 22nd seed, in the third round. Watson upset the No 15 seed, Elina Svitolina, in the second round, her best win for two years.
