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Another big upset marred Australian Open on Saturday (January 21) as three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray has been knocked out of by Roberto Bautista-Agut in the third round of the men's singles match on Margaret Court Arena. The British tennis legend went down to Spaniard in four sets 6-1 6-7 (7) 6-3 6-4.
This was the first time at a grand slam since the French Open in 2017 that Murray was the last British singles player standing.
Murray won just one of the first 15 points before getting on the board in the fourth game, and his competitor wrapped up the opening set in only 29 minutes. The 35-year-old showed what he is capable of by getting the better of Thanasi Kokkinakis in a near-six-hour epic in the early hours of Friday, but he couldn't carry that momentum against Bautista. Murray was seen limping off the court as he made his way back to the changing rooms after the game. Across his three matches in Melbourne, Murray played a total of 14 hours, 26 minutes. Murray said he was "struggling" with his lower back going into the third round tie.
"My legs were actually okay, but I was struggling with my lower back and that was affecting my serve and that was really the main thing that I was struggling with today," he said.
Former World no.1 Murray was looking to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinals for the first time in six years.
Murray struggled in the first set against Bautista Agut as three double faults – as many as he had in the whole of his second-round match – handed the initiative to his opponent.
Murray recovered from a point down in the second set to level up via a tie-break, despite trailing 5-2 and 6-4, though Bautista Agut earned the only break of serve in the third set to edge back in front.
Never before had Murray played three successive five-set matches in the main draw of a grand slam, and that remains the case as Bautista Agut shut out the loud noise generated by the crowd to recover from an early break down and take the match.
Meanwhile, Murray is already looking ahead to the Rotterdam Open in three weeks' time, though, and is hopeful of making his mark at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open later in the year.
"I can have a deeper run than the third round of a slam, there's no question about that," he told reporters.
"Obviously draws can open up for you. I need to also help myself with that. If I was playing at this level last year, I probably wouldn't be ranked 50, 60 in the world. It's up to me to try and change that," Murray added.
Murray, who was on court for around 14 hours across his three matches in Melbourne, says the amount of hours put into practising is made worthwhile as he looks to prolong his career.
"Obviously you never know exactly when the end is going to be," he said. "I would like to go out playing tennis like this, where I'm competing with the best players in the world in the biggest events and doing myself justice. There were maybe times the last year or so where I didn't really feel like I was playing well, and I didn't enjoy the way that I was playing. Those sacrifices and that effort that I put in allowed me to get through those matches and play at a high level that I think was entertaining for the people watching.
"I felt good about the way that I was playing. It's more enjoyable for me when I'm playing like that, when I'm coming into a major event and really believing that I can do some damage."
Perhaps showing signs of rustiness from his early-morning finish against Kokkinakis,
"I have a lot of mixed emotions," said Murray, who has not reached a grand slam quarter-final in six years. “I feel like I gave everything that I had to this event. So I'm proud of that. That is all you can ever do. You can't always control the outcome. You can't control how well you're going to play or the result. You can control the effort that you put into it, and I gave everything that I had the last three matches. I'm very proud of that. But I'm also disappointed because I put loads of work into the beginning of this year and was playing well enough to have a really good run, have a deep run,” Murray further added.
Elsewhere, world no.5 Novak Djokovic booked himself a spot into the 2023 Australian Open fourth round in a late night victory at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night. The Serbian world No. 5 battled past Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 to become one match closer to claiming his 10th Australian Open singles title and tying a record of 22 Grand Slam titles won with Rafael Nadal.
