Murray shakes off dust to topple Tiafoe in Western & Southern opener

“The conditions were quite lively,” Andy Murray said after his 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-1 win over Frances Tiafoe at the Western and Southern Open in New York on Saturday. Obviously, Murray was referring to the court surface, because there was hardly a peep to be heard in the Grandstand on the first day of fan-less tennis at Flushing Meadows.

The changes that have been put in place due to COVID-19 are, obviously, going to be the talk of the tournament in the early going. There are no linespeople, all calls are made by Hawkeye, the chair umpire can’t overrule, players must fetch their own towels, and, except for a stray coach and family member, the stands are empty. But it may be the court itself that becomes a bigger topic of conversation down the road. The US Open is using a new surface in 2020, Laykold, and it appears to be quicker—or, as Murray put it, “livelier”—than the facility’s traditional DecoTurf.

There were certainly fewer rallies than you might have expected from a match between the two speedy baseliners. That could also be because one of them (Murray) hadn’t played an official match all year, while the other (Tiafoe) contracted COVID-19 last month and has only been back on court for a few weeks.

“It was quite scrappy, not good tennis,” Murray said of the level of play in the first set.

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Leaving questions of quality aside, the end of the first set gave us the most crucial passage of play of the afternoon. Tiafoe took a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker after Murray—distracted by movement from one of the two dozen people in the bleachers—sent a second serve into the bottom of the net. But Tiafoe couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity. He gave the mini-break back by missing a forehand wide, squandered a set point by missing a forehand return wide, and dropped the set by hitting an easy volley right back to Murray, who threaded a forehand pass up the line for a winner. It was Murray’s best shot of the day, when he needed it most.

By the middle of the second set, Tiafoe looked gassed. So credit him for hanging around long enough to break Murray at 4-3 in the second set with his highlight of the day, a delicately stabbed—if a shot can be delicately stabbed—backhand drop-volley winner.

When the deciding set began, though, it was Murray who regained his focus, upped the pace on his serve, started taking his returns earlier, and ran himself ragged defensively. Together, that was enough to earn Murray a service break in the second game of the third set. He ended that game doubled over, but he quickly recovered and ran away with the set and the match.

“I felt like I started going for my serve,” Murray said. “I stepped inside the court and hit a few better returns.”

Murray called the early games of this match scrappy, and it never really rose above that description. Tiafoe missed putaway forehands he would normally make. Murray was slower to the ball, particularly when he was moving forward for a volley, than he has been in the past—whether that’s a temporary or permanent decline remains to be seen. But for their first match in months, both guys also had their moments of brilliance, and moments of competitive resilience. Murray had more of the latter, and that made the difference.

Now he moves on to play Alexander Zverev. “I hope I have a day off,” Murray said to ESPN’s Brad Gilbert. When Gilbert told him he does, Murray pumped his fists and said “Yes!” You could almost see the smile through his mask.