Andy Murray fought his way past qualifier Alexei Popyrin in three tight sets in front of a packed centre court crowd at Queens, and faces another Australian Jordan Thompson for a place in the quarter finals.
Murray, a record five-time winner at this event, drew on all his experience and will to win, as well as relying on the crowd support as he celebrated his 1000th match on the ATP tour with a gutsy 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win lasting close to two hours.
“Its great reward at the end for the hard work and effort I’ve put into the match,” said Murray on court afterwards. “I’ve not had too many wins this year, it’s been a difficult season. But I did well to come through in the end and come through some tight service games and yeah, I managed to serve it out well.”
In what is likely to be his last Queens appearance as he contemplates possibly hanging up his rackets for good later this summer, Murray broke serve to go 5-3 ahead in the first set served out moments later. However, he lost serve right at the start of the second set after a dip in concentration, struggling to maintain his intensity and looked to be grimacing after some baseline exchanges. Australian Popyrin took control and won the set along with a huge 85% of points won behind first serve.
But former Wimbledon champion Murray regained his focus to break immediately at the beginning of the third, and was soon 3-0 ahead. He came through a tough service game at 3-1 after being pulled back to deuce but aced his way out of trouble. He soon brought up two match points with another ace and sealed the match with a faded backhand volley cross court winner and roared with delight before high-fiving his coaching team.
“Obviously with Wimbledon a few weeks away I want to try and build up some confidence and get some matches in my legs,” explained Murray. “Today was a difficult one, I am proud of the way I fought and came back in the third set after losing the second. It’s great to get another win here.”
When asked how he was feeling physically after his recent injury struggles, he replied: “I’ve felt better, but it was enough today. I didn’t realise it, but my mum reminded me that this is my 1,000th match on tour – that’s a lot of matches, and a lot of wear and tear on the body and it’s not easy but I managed to come through.”
Meanwhile, Stuttgart champion Jack Draper hit 16 winners and won easily against Argentine Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-2 in the last match of the day to set up a tantalising encounter with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the Last 16 – a match which he is relishing: “We all know how good Carlos is, it’s an amazing match to test where I’m at. I can’t wait,” said Draper.
There was also a rare win for another British player. At the ripe old age of 29, Billy Harris has taken 10 years to win a match on the main tour as beat Thomas Ethcheverry of Argentina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Harris, who drives himself to tournaments in his camper van, will now crack the top 150 for the first time and takes on huge serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard who surprisingly took out sixth seed Ben Shelton earlier today.
However, things are not looking so good for veteran Dan Evans after falling on court today and retiring injured. After splitting the first two sets with American Brandon Nakashima, the 34-year-old Brit lost his footing at the back of Court 1 at the start of the third set and collapsed to the floor with a scream. Although he managed to get back to his feet, he clearly felt pain in his knee and could not continue – a worrying sign given that two major tennis events are around the corner. “I’m heartbroken at the minute. It’s tough,” said Evans afterwards. “If I miss the Olympics or Wimbledon, it would be a tough one to swallow, no doubt.”
