This 5th meeting at Wimbledon between Murray and Kyrgios means, that these two have now met at all 4 grand slams. The Australian won only one set against Murray, at US Open 2015. In the opening set, both players were showing great service performances. Murray and Kyrgios didn’t let one another to even get to deuce until 6-5. It seemed that Kyrgios would hold easily again, sending the set into a tiebreak. Instead, out of nowhere he got to a 0-40 deficit on his serve. The World No. 18 saved two break points before losing the first set to Murray 7-5.
Opening three games of the second set were easy holds of serve, just like in the first set. Then came two breaks by Murray on Kyrgios’ serve, and the Brit was serving for the second set just after 26 minutes. Murray served the second set out easily and was leading 7-5 6-1, going into the third set. In the third set, Murray broke Kyrgios for 2-1. The Aussie was again 0-40 down on his serve, trailing back to 30-40 and then conceding the game. Murray held on to his serve and got his first two match points at 5-3 on Kyrgios’ serve. Kyrgios serve and volleyed to save the second match point and then won the game. Murray then served the match out at 40-15 with the eighth ace of the match, winning 7-5 6-1 6-4.
“The first set was very tight. I managed to get the break at 6-5 but it was tight up to that point,” Murray told BBC Sport. “The second set was much more comfortable, Nick lost his focus a bit. I was able to dictate a lot of the rallies. The matches, as you progress, get tougher. Tsonga is next who is a tough grass-court player and I’ll have to play very well to win that one.”
“As soon as I lost the first set, I just lost belief. It obviously felt like a mountain to climb after losing the first,” said Kyrgios about why he lost the match. “He played pretty well, as well. I don’t think he missed too many balls either.”
