Britain’s Andy Murray moved into the third round of the ATP and WTA Miami Open on Saturday but Rafael Nadal, dizzy as he struggled to cope with heat and humidity, retired from his match
Andy Murray returns during his match against Denis Istomin at Crandon Park Tennis Center in Florida on Saturday.
Miami: Britain’s Andy Murray moved into the third round of the ATP and WTA Miami Open on Saturday but Rafael Nadal, dizzy as he struggled to cope with heat and humidity, retired from his match. World No 2 Murray, twice a Grand Slam champion, downed Uzbekistan’s 76th-ranked Denis Istomin 6-3, 7-5 to reach the third round in a night match.
Andy Murray returns during his match against Denis Istomin at Crandon Park Tennis Center in Florida on Saturday. Pic/AFP
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“That second set was tight but I managed to get through it,” said Murray, who next faces Bulgarian 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov in his quest for a third Miami crown.
Rafael Nadal walks off the court after retiring in his Round Two match against Damir Dzumhur
Spanish fifth seed Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion playing in the heat of the afternoon, feared for his safety and handed 94th-ranked Bosnian Damir Dzumhur a 2-6, 6-4, 3-0 win, stopping during a match for the first time in six years.
“Everything was fine until the end of the first set and I started to feel not very good,” Nadal said. “It was getting worse and worse and worse.
“I get a little bit scared to be too dizzy and to lose fluids. I called the doctor a couple of times. I decided I was not safe. I wanted to finish the match but I decided I would not.”
Wawrinka, Kvitova fall
Two-time Slam winners Stan Wawrinka and Petra Kvitova crashed out of the hardcourt event, although Nadal’s exit proved most stunning of all.
“Definitely I want Rafa to recover,” said Dzumhur. “He’s one of the best players in tennis and I wish all the best for him.”
World No 1 Serena Williams ousted Kazak Zarina Diyas 7-5, 6-3, in the match after Nadal and was also tested by the conditions. “It was definitely humid,” Williams said. “Rafa played before me. He was in the most intense part of the sun whereas I was on the tail end of it.”
Swiss fourth seed Wawrinka, who has won titles this year at Chennai and Dubai, was ousted by Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-3 while Czech eighth seed Kvitova, the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon winner, fell to Russian 30th seed Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-4.
Kuznetsov, ranked a career-best 51st, avenged a third-round loss to Wawrinka at Indian Wells and made the Swiss his highest-ranked beaten foe.
With Nadal and Wawrinka out, the top-ranked player in their quarter of the draw is Canadian 12th seed Milos Raonic, coming off a runner-up showing at Indian Wells.
Raonic beat American Denis Kudla 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 and next faces US 22nd seed Jack Sock, who advanced 6-2, 3-2 when Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky retired with a back injury.
Australian Nick Kyrgios routed Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-1
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