ATP: Small triumphal march stopped: Andy Murray misses semifinal of Shenzhen

One day after his biggest win since his comeback, Andy Murray was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the ATP tournament in Shenzhen. The three-time Grand Slam winner lost to the fifth seeded veteran Fernando Verdasco (Spain) with 4:6, 4:6.

Shenzhen in the southeast of China likes to see itself as a pioneer. Even when it comes to road traffic. All buses in the industrial city of Guangdong Province run on electricity. Andy Murray certainly didn’t have an eye for this peculiarity in the past days. The Scotsman was more concerned with gaining self-confidence on his long way back.

What wildcard owner Murray also succeeded in doing at the 250cc hardcourt event. In the round of 16 he had defeated the top seeded Belgian David Goffin 6:3, 6:4 on Thursday. Murray had not won against such a highly placed opponent – Goffin is number eleven in the ATP ranking – since his comeback in mid-June after a hip operation.

So a lot of tailwind for the Scotsman. However, the small high flight was stopped one day later already again. “Sir Andy”, currently only 311th in the world rankings, Verdasco (ATP no. 28) had to admit defeat after almost 1:40 hours. It was only the third defeat of the 31-year-old against the Spanish left-hander in the 16th duel.

Murray immediately regained the break he had conceded early in the first set, but Verdasco broke through the former industry leader’s serve again and, a little later, after 46 minutes, took the first pass with his seventh ace. The native of Madrilene also acted more effectively afterwards and transported his break to 2:1 until the end of the match.

Verdasco achieved a total of eleven aces, when the first service came, he made the point in 84 percent of cases – Murray came in this statistic only 73 percent. The 31-year-old, who won the title in Shenzhen in 2014, will compete in the Beijing Tournament next week and then finish his season.

Verdasco will face Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka in the semi-final on Saturday, who is only listed at position 171 in the ranking.

In the other preliminary round duel, Alex de Minaur (Australia/Nr. 7) and the unseeded Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France), who had surprised Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece (No. 2) in the second round, face each other.

The Tableau in Shenzhen