World No. 4 Andy Murray overcame a gutsy display from Russian Igor Kunitsyn to win 6-2 6-3 in a floodlit first-round encounter at the Dubai tennis championships.
After defending champion Novak Djokovic eased into today’s second round with a straight-sets victory, the Briton started slowly in his first match since losing the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, surviving two break points in the opening game.
The Russian’s high-energy approach disturbed a rusty Murray in an epic 24-minute second game which included 14 deuces.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Murray’s right knee was wrapped in an ice pack before the game and the Scot visibly slumped after failing to convert an eighth break point, but won at the ninth attempt for a 2-0 lead.
A long Kunitsyn forehand gave the 22-year-old the opening set after 58 minutes.
Murray double-faulted to lose the opening game of the second set but a brutal forehand winner gave him an immediate break back.
However, he remained frustrated by his inability to exploit Kunitsyn’s second serve, spinning his racket and talking under his breath.
A measured lob gave Kunitsyn break point at 2-2 but the Scot delivered an 11th ace, eventually holding serve.
Kunitsyn saved two break points in the next game, but a third was beyond him and Murray edged 4-2 in front.
Novak Djokovic survived a late scare to defeat Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-4. The crowd favorite was 5-0 ahead in the second set, before a determined Guillermo fought back to 5-4.
Djokovic raced into a 5-0 second-set lead, subduing his opponent with a torrent of powerful forehands, drop shots and astute net play.
Garcia-Lopez saved a match point as he broke Djokovic twice to reach 4-5. Roared on by a near-capacity crowd, Djokovic was stirred into action and although the Spaniard saved a second match point, the Serb ended the contest with a forehand down the line.
His win set up all a second round clash with Victor Troicki, who beat Rainer Schuettler 6-3 6-4.
Food poisoning could not stop Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis from defeating Gilles Simon 7-6, 6-4.
“I was concentrating on not throwing up on court,” he said.
Spain’s Feliciano Lopez suffered a shock 7-6 6-4 first-round defeat to qualifier Stefan Koubek.
■DELRAY BEACH
AP DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA
Top-seeded Tommy Haas suffered an upset loss to Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the first round of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Monday.
Gabashvili, who has been hampered by health issues over the past year, was playing in his third tournament of the year. It was only the second ATP Tour match he’s won since July.
The Russian was diagnosed with anemia and also had surgery to remove colon polyps in December.
Haas was trailing 5-3 in the opening set but fought back to a tiebreaker where he netted a backhand volley to lose the set.
In the second set, the 104th-ranked Gabashvili went ahead 2-0, but lost his serve in the third set.
Haas surrendered the match in the final game when he smacked a backhand into the net.
Despite twisting his ankle at 3-1 in the first set, Wayne Odesnik cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow American Rajeev Ram.
Kazakhstan’s Evgeny Korolev scored a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures