VASEK POSPISIL UPSETS ANDY MURRAY IN INDIAN WELLS, TSONGA ALSO GOES DOWN IN OPENING MATCH

Written by: Staff on 12th March 2017

VASEK POSPISIL UPSETS ANDY MURRAY IN INDIAN WELLS, TSONGA ALSO GOES DOWN IN OPENING MATCH

epa05843628 Vasek Pospisil of Canada celebrates after upsetting Andy Murray of Britain during their match at the 2017 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, USA 11 March 2017. EPA/MIKE NELSON |

By Ricky Dimon

Andy Murray’s BNP Paribas Open has closed after just a single match.

Following a first-round bye, Murray lost his opener to Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 7-6(5) on Saturday night. Using aggressive tactics such as serve-and-volleying and also getting into the net during return games, Pospisil broke the world No. 1 four times before advancing in one hour and 50 minutes.

Murray led by a break in the opening set but was eventually doomed by winning a horrendous one of nine-second serve points. It was the top-seeded Scot’s turn to recover from a break deficit in the second, eventually playing his way into a tiebreaker after trailing 2-0.

Andy Murray of Britain serves against Vasek Pospisil of Canada during their match at the 2017 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, USA 11 March 2017. EPA/MIKE NELSON

Pospisil surged to a 6-2 lead in the ‘breaker top put himself all but across the finish line. Murray, however, fought off three straight match points with a big serve followed but taking each of his opponent’s service points. But Pospisil refused to squander his fourth opportunity, instead firing a cross-court forehand winner to clinch victory.

“I felt like I was playing better as the match was going on, especially in that first set,” Pospisil explained. “I was just kind of sticking to the game-plan and kind of distracting my mind with what I wanted to do on the court. Of course, still some [doubts] come in–especially in the second set. You know, it’s not every day you’re close to beating the No. 1 player in the world.

So I did well to stick with the process and not really get distracted, and Andy [was] a bit off today.”

Murray is often off in Indian Wells, now a modest 25-12 lifetime at the tournament with zero titles. He lost to Federico Delbonis in the third round last year.

“I don’t know exactly why it is, because in practice here normally I play pretty well,” Murray noted. “And then some years I played well. Some years it just hasn’t quite happened for me. I don’t know exactly why that is. I don’t know if it is the conditions here or…I really don’t know why I haven’t played my best here over the years.

“I didn’t serve particularly well tonight, which didn’t help things. And then in the second set he started to play more aggressively. I was giving myself decent looks at passing shots, (but) I missed a few tonight. He also came up with some really good reflex volleys on important moments and important points.”

It was an extremely important win for Pospisil, who has plunged outside the top 100 in the world and had to qualify to get into the main draw. He also has a chance to go much further in a quarter of the draw that now lacks both Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Tsonga fell to Fabio Fognini 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4 on Saturday afternoon. Pospisil, meanwhile, will face unseeded Dusan Lajovic on Monday.