Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship 2022 - Andy Murray ground down by Jannik Sinner in last-16

Andy Murray was outplayed by Jannik Sinner to lose out on a place in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship. The former world number one was beaten in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2 in a match the Italian took complete control of in the second set, as Murray’s serve struggled to make an impact. Ad/> The three-time Grand Slam champion was unable to bring up a single break point throughout the match and found himself with too much to do after going a double break down in the second.

ATP DubaiSinner saves three match points against Davidovich Fokina, Evans loses to Rublev18 HOURS AGO With the sun belting down, Murray’s own temperature began to rise in the fifth game of the first set, berating himself and slamming the racquet into the ground several times as he went two break points down. But the former world number one survived before heading to the chair shaking his head in apparent disbelief that he had let the opportunity surface. Both players had half chances to break serve, but Sinner took his opportunity in the 10th, which turned out to be an extremely loose service game from Murray.

The Italian broke to love with a Murray volley into the net and he followed that up by serving to 30 to secure the opening set 7-5. It meant Murray again needed to go the distance to progress through to the next round, having needed three sets to get past Christopher O’Connell. That looked to be unlikely from the opening game of the second set.