WATCH: Andy Murray’s brilliant reaction after ball hits the net – ‘I love you Andy!’
There was a lot of love for Andy Murray during his Citi Open match against Brandon Nakashima and he gave the spectators on Stadium Court exactly what they wanted early on.
Playing in his first match since his second-round defeat at Wimbledon, Murray had the crowd behind him with many chanting “Let’s go, Andy, let’s go! during the encounter and there was even the odd “I love you Andy!”.
And early on the three-time Grand Slam winner repaid the faith from the spectators as he won a spectacular rally on the Nakashima serve in game two.
They slugged it out early on in the point with deep baseline shots and Murray took charge with some deep returns in either corner. He followed it up with a good volley, but Nakashima chased it down and his attempted pass clipped the net and for a moment it looked like Murray had lost the point.
However, he quickly gathered his composure to get racket to ball for a deep reply, which Nakashima could only sky. Murray then put the smash away to make it 30-30 although Nakashima still won the game.
Enjoy!
There were no breaks of serve in the opening set, heck there were no break points in the set, but the second set started off with a break of serve for Murray in game one.
Nakashima had some chances to break back immediately, but Murray held firm and eventually served it out for a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory.
“I thought I did well, I hit the ball very well from the beginning of the match,” Murray said after the match.
“I was struggling a little bit on the return. Brandon serves well, especially his second serve. I was struggling to create many opportunities on return. But I was just a little bit more solid than him at the end of the tie-break, he made a few mistakes, I put enough balls back in play.
“Then I got the break immediately at the beginning of the second set and served it out pretty well from there. It was tight at the end. The courts and the balls are extremely slow here, so you’re having to work really hard in all of the games, it’s not easy to finish points. It was a good one to get through.”
READ MORE: What Andy Murray needs to do next after impressive Washington win
Nakashima had a chance to break back in game 10 of the second set, but Murray managed to save the break point.
“It got really tense toward the end,” he said before thanking the crowd, saying: “The adrenaline, butterflies, nerves, that makes you feel alive. I still enjoy that.”
Up next is top seed Taylor Fritz after the American defeated Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3 for his fifth win in a row. Fritz is fresh from winning the Atlanta Open on Sunday.
