Murray earns best win of comeback by downing Goffin in Shenzhen
David Goffin still cannot find a way to beat Andy Murray, who earned a straight-forward win to reach the Shenzhen Open quarterfinals.
Published : Sep 27, 2018 22:51 IST
Andy Murray completed the biggest victory of his comeback so far with a 6-3, 6-4 beating of defending David Goffin at the Shenzhen Open.
The former world number one, who now has a 6-0 career record over the Belgian, had not beaten a player inside the top 15 since the 2017 French Open.
It was only Murray's 11th match of the season as he continues to battle back from a hip injury, and the Briton had already announced that next week's China Open will be his last tournament of 2018.
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"I felt like in terms of the way I hit the ball, it was the best I've played, and I think I knew that I was going to have to hit the ball very well if I wanted to win," Murray, who won the tournament in 2014, said in quotes reported by the ATP .
"I love the conditions that we play in. Usually it's quite humid, and the courts are a little bit faster than what we usually play on the tour."
"The conditions that I like are fast courts with slow balls, and with the humidity, that slows the ball down a little bit. I feel like I'm able to control the ball very well here."
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In the quarterfinals, Murray will attempt to gain a measure of revenge on Fernando Verdasco, who he lost to in round two of the US Open.
Verdasco, who denied a claim by Murray that he had liaised with members of his coaching team during a heat break in their match at Flushing Meadows, fought back to beat Taro Daniel 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Alex de Minaur and Damir Dzumhur will also face off in the last eight, the former defeated Mackenzie McDonald 1-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0, while the latter coasted past Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2.
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At the Chengdu Open, top seed Fabio Fognini started his tournament off with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) beating of Ruben Bemelmans to set up a last-eight contest with Matthew Ebden, who needed three sets to defeat Matteo Berrettini.
Taylor Fritz is also in the quarterfinals after needing just over an hour for a straight-sets win over Mikhail Kukushkin and will face compatriot Sam Querrey after he raced past Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1, 6-4.