Andy Murray has pulled out of his match against Novak Djokovic at the Madrid Open through illness.
Murray has not played Djokovic since the Qatar Open in January 2017, when the Brit was atop the world rankings. The Serb won in three sets.
The bitter blow comes as Murray had found form after he sensationally decided to reverse his decision to skip the entire clay-court season as he was handed a wild card for Madrid. He has been training on the surface for four weeks and it paid dividends as the three-time Grand Slam champion defeated Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov to set up a clash with the World No. 1.
A statement on the tournament's twitter said: “Unfortunately, Andy Murray is unable to take to the Manolo Santana Stadium due to illness.
“We wish you a speedy recovery! Instead, Andrey Rublev and Daniel Evans will open the day's play on centre court.”
Fans around the world were undoubtedly excited to see Murray test his might against Djokovic. The two men have known each other since they competed in their youth and have faced one other 36 times in their professional career - including seven Grand Slam finals.
The two-time Wimbledon champion's withdrawal hands the Serb a free passage to the quarter-finals where he will face either Hubert Hurkacz or Dusan Lajovic.
Murray - currently the World No. 78 - showed his improved form with the 6-1 3-6 6-2 win over Shapovalov in two hours and nine minutes. He identified his improved movement as the reason for his fine play.
Djokovic beat Gael Monfils 6-3 6-2 in his second-round match after being he was awarded a bye in the opening round. It was his 18th successive win over Monfils, the most by any player over another in the Open era.
Djokovic is set to continue his preparations ahead of his return to Grand Slam competition at Roland Garros later this month. After controversially missing the Australian Open at the start of the year, the Serb will be hoping to replicate his success last year and once again topple Rafael Nadal - who won his 21st Grand Slam title Down Under - and his other rivals on the clay.
