Andy Murray’s brave Australian Open run came to an end at the hands of Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday night.
Andy Murray hobbled on to Margaret Court Arena with the zest of a man twice his age on Saturday night and exited more than three-and-a-half-hours later indisputably feeling worse.
So it proved, but not before the five-time Australian Open finalist gave the 24th seed an almighty battle when beaten 6-1, 6-7 , 6-3, 6-4 in 3 hours, 29 minutes. But there was a significant difference in the fitness of the two combatants. It took the 34-year-old just under three hours to defeat Brandon Holt on Thursday.Murray, in comparison, required nearly six hours to trump Thanasi Kokkinakis. And he finished the match well past 4am. That was after taking five hours to edge Matteo Berrettini.
His body squeaked, squealed and stalled but finally sparked into action midway through the second set. The fourth set was similarly tight. Murray broke early, surrendered it and then gave another break at 4-all, a game that went against the grain of the contest given how easily it was lost.On securing victory, Bautista Agut bellowed “vamos” and pumped his fist in delight. It was a quality performance. He had seen off a proud champion who had the support of the crowd. He progressed to face Tommy Paul for a place in the quarter-finals.
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