Murray Downs Kyrgios in Flushing Meadows Nightcap
Under the lights Tuesday night in Flushing Meadows, it was former U.S. Open champion Andy Murray defeating Australian Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. It was the fourth meeting between the two, as Murray ups his mark to a perfect 4-0 against the young Australian.
Rolling into Flushing Meadows after defeating Novak Djokovic for the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Murray is now 58-9 on the year as he enters round two where he will face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. It will be the second meeting between the two, with Murray owning the lone victory earlier this year in Indian Wells.
“I expected a tough match … he's obviously just missed out on the seeding here,” said Murray of Kyrgios. “Aside from obviously his ranking, he's also ranked where he is based on his performances in the major events. He’s played well pretty much in every Grand Slam tournament that he's been part of. Had big wins and pushed a lot of guys extremely hard and caused a few upsets as well.”
Post-match, Kyrgios commented on the new lighting structure at Arthur Ashe, as it appeared he struggled at times with the position of the new lighting setup.
“The way the lights were positioned on the roof was a bit tough for me, especially with the ball toss,” said Kyrgios in his post-match press conference. “I sort of got used to it towards the end of the match. This is the first time playing at night with the roof. It felt completely different to last year when I played without the roof. The court itself is unbelievable. The speed of it … it's perfect in there.”
Also on Tuesday, it was the number two seeded Roger Federer who dismissed Argentinian Leonardo Mayer, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Federer, in his 16th U.S. Open appearance, captured his 87th ATP Tour level title just two weeks ago in Cincinnati at the 2015 Cincinnati Masters, defeating world number one Djokovic for the title.
“I'm very relaxed after this match,” said Federer. “I was relaxed after being up two sets to love and a break. That's when I started to feel good. But like I said, the last one-and-a-half days I was feeling good, but somehow cautious about this first round match and all of a sudden about the entire tournament. My fitness is good. I'm confident from last week. I have had the perfect preparation in a way that I had enough time off, I had enough practice.”
Up next in round two for Federer is Steve Darcis of Belgium, a winner over Marcos Baghdatis, who was forced to retire. The two have never before met over the course of their careers.
