The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsAndy Murray is through to the fourth round of the US Open, as the Brit overcame a erratic display to battle past a resilient Paolo Lorenzi 7-6 5-7 6-2 6-3. The Italian was not expected to pose a threat but Murray struggled throughout the contest to manage his unforced errors and break down his opponent’s credible resistance in the rallies. Lorenzi led the first two sets by a break and even though Murray recovered to take the opener, the stubborn Italian hit back to level the match. However, the former champion raised his level and improved to take control of the match, comfortably winning the following two sets to secure a tough win.
In the opening set, Murray cruised through his first few service games but he was unable to pressurise Lorenzi for the break early on, as the Italian capitalised on a few errors from the world number two to hold serve. Lorenzi was forced to save break points at 3-2 and the Italian’s persistence in the extended rallies was surprisingly rewarded at 4-4, as an error strewn game from Murray gifted his lower ranked opponent the break to serve for the set. However, Lorenzi was unable to close the set out and a series of erratic shots handed Murray the break back. The set would eventually reach a tie-break and with the momentum fluctuating early on, Murray’s aggression finally paid off as the Brit took control with a series of dominant points, before rifling a deep forehand return to seal what was a very scrappy set of tennis from the world number two.
As the second set unfolded, Murray outmanoeuvred his opponent with power and depth to secure the early break in the first game of the set with a volley at the net. But, Lorenzi refused to lie down and immediately recovered the break back, before striking again at 3-2 by capitalising on more wayward shot-making from his opponent to eventually open up a 5-2 margin. Murray forced his opponent to serve for the set and once again the Italian was unable to do so, as the world number two was solid enough to recover the break back. However, the Brit continued to struggle for consistency as well as producing enough first serves, and the combination of Murray’s erratic shot-making and Lorenzi’s solid tennis saw the Italian eventually break the world number two to deservedly claim the set 7-5.
In the third set, both players continued to contribute with exhilarating and gruelling rallies but this time the Brit was able to grind his opponent down with controlled aggression to seize the early break. Murray consolidated it to establish a 2-0 lead and even though the Italian was still battling hard, the Brit’s deep groundstrokes were simply too much and Lorenzi was forced to concede the double break. The world number two was now producing his usual solid form as he went on to clinically wrap up the set on his own serve with an ace, to take the upper hand in the match.
The early stages of the fourth set saw Lorenzi under pressure on serve due to Murray’s relentless hitting, and the Brit claimed the decisive break when his opponent placed a lob wide. The Italian still though refused to give up and held a break point in the following game, but Murray survived to establish a 2-0 lead. Lorenzi did well to reduce the deficit initially but the Brit managed to hold his serve with relative ease and at 5-3, the tiring Italian finally succumbed to defeat as Murray broke once more to complete a hard fought victory.
In the fourth round, Murray will face Grigor Dimitrov as the Bulgarian beat Joao Sousa in four sets.
As for the other Brits, Johanna Konta eased past Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-1, whilst Kyle Edmund upset John Isner in four sets to book a fourth round clash with world number one Novak Djokovic. However, in arguably the match of the tournament so far, Dan Evans pushed Stan Wawrinka to five dramatic sets but it was the Swiss who triumphed in a titanic 4-6 6-3 6-7 7-6 6-2 win. With both players sharing the first two sets, Evans continued his high quality performance to claim the third set and even held a match point in the fourth set tie-break, but Wawrinka saved it before edging the tiebreak to eventually prevail.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal dispatched Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1 6-4 6-2, as defending champion Novak Djokovic benefitted from another withdrawal to move into the next round after his opponent Mikhail Youzhny retired during the match with an injury. Juan Martin Del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also progressed in straight sets, but Kei Nishikori needed to recover from a set down to top Nicolas Mahut 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-2. However, former champion Marin Cilic was stunned in straight sets by home hope Jack Sock, whilst Nick Kyrgios was forced to withdraw with a hip injury during his third round encounter against Illya Marchenko.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams moved ahead of Martina Navratilova’s record of grand slam wins by crushing Johanna Larsson 6-2 6-1, as her sister Venus, Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska all notched straight set victories. Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki also comfortably moved through into round four, but Simona Halep needed three sets to overcome Timea Babos and Madison Keys staged a remarkable fightback from 5-1 down in the deciding set to eventually see off the hugely talented Naomi Osaka 7-5 4-6 7-6.
