ATP: “It gets better and better”: Andy Murray reaches round of 16 of D.C.

Andy Murray has celebrated his greatest success since his comeback. The Briton, who crashed to 832th place in the world rankings after hip surgery, defeated his compatriot Kyle Edmund, who was seeded fourth, 7:6 (7:4), 1:6, 6:4 in Washington.

Murray finished the prestigious match against Edmund after 2’33” with a backhand return winner. He then took his dark blue baseball cap off his head and accepted the congratulations of his Davis Cup colleague.

Murray couldn’t resist returning to the court, pointing two fingers to the sky and sending the winner’s fist behind him. The emotional scenes only gave an idea of how big the stone must have been that fell from the heart of the two-time Wimbledon champion after this success.

After his hard-fought opening win over Mackenzie McDonald (3:6, 6:4, 7:5), Murray was still struggling. “But this time it’s been better. In the first match I defended all the time and played from far behind the baseline,” said the 31-year-old Scot and was extremely pleased with his performance against the world rankings-18th Edmund: “I was more offensive. Especially in the important moments in the third set, I did what I set out to do: “To dictate more rallies and be closer to the baseline.”

Murray had lost to Edmund a few weeks ago in Eastbourne (4:6, 4:6). In the match for his first quarter-final since Wimbledon in July 2017, former number one will face Romanian Marius Copil, who surprisingly defeated Jeremy Chardy of France (No 14) 6-4, 6-4.

Except for Chardy, the seated professionals hardly gave themselves any nudity. David Goffin (Belgium/No. 3) had trouble 6:2, 1:6, 7:6 (7:5) against Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France). Kei Nishikori (Japan/No. 7) and Denis Shapovalov (Canada/No. 9) also reached the round of 16.