Fritz, Murray Set Third Round Date In Washington D.C.; Eubanks, Monfils Advance

Down 5-2 in the first set breaker to Brandon Nakashima, Andy Murray wouldn’t give up. The former No. 1 grabbed the last five points to take the opening set, then broke to start the second to win it 7-6(5), 6-4 and advance to the third round at Washington, D.C.

Nakashima was in complete control leading 5-2 in the tiebreak when the wheels came off. The American couldn’t find the range on the forehand and three straight unforced errors got it to 5-all and Murray took advantage of the nervous youngster.

“I thought I did well, I hit the ball very well from the beginning of the match,” Murray said on court. “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.”

Taylor Fritz set the meeting cruising past 20-year-old Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3. Svajda finished 0-of-8 on break chances as Fritz smacked eight aces and lost just five points on first set.

The top-seeded Fritz and Murray have met just once before coming last summer in Canada won by Fritz.

“It’s going to be a tough match against Andy, who is such an amazing competitor. The conditions are really, really slow so that will help him in the match a little bit,” Fritz said.

With his wife doing well, Gael Monfils is trying to keep pace! The French star made it to the third round with a good win over Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4.

Yosuke Watanuki of Japan had the upset of the day knocking out No. 3 Felix Auger-Aliassime in straights 7-6(12-10), 7-6(7-3). The Canadian 23-year-old has lost his last four matches and seven of his last eight.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Ninth-seeded Daniel Evans moved past France’s Gregoire Barrere 2-6, 6-0, 6-3. The 12th-seeded Tallon Griekspoor defeated Liam Broady 6-4, 6-2. Jordan Thompson ousted No. 7 seed Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 6-4. he 13th-seeded Ugo Humbert won a tight one over Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis 7-6(8-6), 1-6, 6-4. No. 11 seed Christopher Eubanks got the better of Sho Shimabukuro 6-3, 6-4 and 24-year-old American J.J. Wolf hammered Radu Albot 6-1, 6-3.

Also on Thursday, home favorite Frances Tiafoe will challenge rising 18-year-old Jerry Shang. Tiafoe beat Shang at the Australian Open this year.

No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov meets Emil Ruusuvuori, No. 9 Daniel Evans will battle Alexander Shevchenko, Eubanks takes on Jordan Thompson and No. 12 Tallon Griekspoor will face Monfils.

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