NEW YORK — Before they stepped on court, there was nothing to suggest Andy Murray would have any trouble against Adrian Mannarino in the U.S. Open’s second round.
Murray, after all, is seeded No. 3, owns two major championships including at Flushing Meadows in 2012, and had reached at least the quarterfinals at the last 18 Grand Slam tournaments he’d entered. Mannarino, meanwhile, is ranked 35th, has never won a tour-level title, and only three times in his career has even managed to win more than one match at a major.
So it certainly came as a surprise when, in Thursday’s opening game, Mannarino broke Murray. About an hour later, Mannarino grabbed the opening set. And 45 minutes after that, the Frenchman took the second set, too.
Despite a stuffy nose and scratchy throat, and generally looking as if he might be ready to wilt on another steamy day at Flushing Meadows — two more mid-match retirements, including by 28th-seeded Jack Sock of the United States, raised the total to 12 in the men’s draw so far — Murray put together his eighth career comeback from a two-set deficit and beat Mannarino 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.
Roger Federer had his rhythm from the start, compiling a 46-8 edge in winners while beating Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 at night, before 2014 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki was stunned by 149th-ranked Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (1) in the day’s last match, which ended after midnight. Wozniacki held four match points but each was erased by a winner from Cetkovska.
There are only two American men remaining of the 16 who were in the draw: No. 13 John Isner and unseeded Donald Young.
“It’s tough to see,” Isner said about Sock’s cramping. “It’s not a fitness thing. I think that’s a big, big misconception. He’s in very good shape. He can play 50-ball rallies if he wants to. But he sweats a lot. … His body was at a deficit of whatever it is — sodium, magnesium, potassium.”
Thumbnail photo via Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports Images
