Gabashvili Stuns Murray in D.C.
Top-seeded Andy Murray was ousted from the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night, getting upended in three sets by Teymuraz Gabashvili. The 30-year-old Russian hung on to beat Murray 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) in the second round matchup.
After trading the first two sets, Murray seemed to finally break through late in the third set. He broke for a 5-4 advantage and had a chance to serve out the match. But Gabashvili didn’t budge, breaking right back to even the set at 5-5.
The deciding frame would go into a tie-breaker, and again Murray seemed to have the advantage. He jumped out to a 4-3 lead, only to see Gabashvili rattle off the next four points to close out the match and upset the third-ranked Murray.
“Obviously, disappointed not to close it out in the third set when I had a chance to do that,” said Murray, who was playing in D.C. for the first time since 2006. “There’s things I feel I could have done better.”
Murray hasn’t played since leading Great Britain into the Davis Cup semifinals in mid-July, and some of that rust showed. The loss marked the first time a top-seed in Washington lose their opening match since Ivan Lendl in 1993.
For Gabashvili, the win was his first Top 10 win since beating Roger Federer in Barcelona last year.
“I was exhausted at the end because my body was really tired, but I learned to play good points and I learned to play aggressive, without any fear because you have to fight for every point,” said Gabashvili. “I’m confident now and for sure this helped me in this match and also in the first round against Benjamin Becker, which was really difficult. I knew if I just played and try my weapons and let’s see how it goes and it went to my side. The past three years I’ve become more confident in my play.”
Gabashvili moves on and will next play Lithiuanian Ricardas Berankis, who notched an upset of his own by downing 14th-seeded Pablo Cuevas, 6-3, 6-3.
A number of other seeds were bounced in D.C. on Wednesday as well.
German teenager Alexander Zverev came back from a set down to beat fifth-seed Kevin Anderson 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“I played really bad in the first set and couldn’t adjust to the light and couldn’t get rhythm on my serve and on the groundstrokes as well,” said Zverev. “In the second set, I turned it around a little and got the break early on and kept going, so I think that was the moment it all changed.”
Zverev draws former champion Alexandr Dolgopolov. The Ukrainian upended 10th-seeded Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 7-6(2) on Wednesday to advance.
Americans Steve Johnson and John Isner both notched victories to reach the third round. Johnson fired 10 aces to upend 11th-seeded Australian Bernard Tomic 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-2, while the eighth-seed Isner moved past Victor Estrella Burgos 6-3, 7-6(5).
Up next for Johnson is sixth-seed Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Guido Pella 7-6(1), 6-4. Isner plays 12th seeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the third-round.
Other winners in Washington on Wednesday included fourth-seed Richard Gasquet, seventh-seeded Feliciano Lopez, 16th-seeded Leonardo Mayer and Sam Groth.
