Andy Murray stormed back from a first-set loss to defeat American wild card Emilio Nava 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 on Wednesday in the second round of the U.S. Open in New York.
Murray finished with just 22 winners compared to Nava’s 33, but made good on 46 of 58 first service points (79.3 percent) to mount the comeback. The Briton won 14 of the last 15 games, sending him to the third round of the event for the first time since 2016.
“I think I started to take the ball on a little bit more,” said Murray, the 2012 U.S. Open champ. “(Nava) was dictating a lot of the points in the first set. Once I started to hit the ball a little bit bigger, a little bit deeper, I was then able to control the points more.”
With the win, Murray will face No. 13 seed Matteo Berretini of Italy, who toppled French lucky loser Hugo Grenier 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) in his second-round matchup.
Another lucky loser hailing from France, Corentin Moutet, provided one of the day’s few upsets. Moutet downed 21st-seeded Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4. In addition, Great Britain’s Jack Draper eliminated sixth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia cruised to a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 victory over France’s Arthur Rinderknech, never losing serve and converting five of his 17 break opportunities.
No. 5 seed Casper Ruud of Norway and No. 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain both dug themselves out of early holes to prevent upsets. Ruud bested Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, and Carreno Busta edged Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
American wild card J.J. Wolf also overcame a deficit, recovering from an early setback to beat Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.
In other action, Australian No. 18 seed Alex de Minaur got past Cristian Garin of Chile with a 6-3, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 win. Fellow Australian 23rd seed Nick Kyrgios also won, picking up a 7-6 (3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory against Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.
An all-American matchup saw No. 29 seed Tommy Paul prevail in five sets over Sebastian Korda, and Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan did the same against Jordan Thompson of Australia. Russia’s Karen Khachanov, the 27th seed, moved past Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro in four sets.
–Field Level Media
