Former World No. 1 Andy Murray has withdrawn from next week’s China Open due to an ankle injury. The 2016 champion, who reached the Shenzhen Open quarter-finals, will end his season after previously announcing his plans for the Beijing event to be his final tournament of the year.

The 31-year-old ends his 2018 campaign with a 7-5 record, following his long-awaited return to the ATP World Tour at the Fever-Tree Championships in June. Murray’s appearance at The Queen’s Club ended an 11-month absence, dating back to 2017 Wimbledon, due to a hip injury.

After undergoing hip surgery in January, Murray fell in three sets to Nick Kyrgios on his return to action at The Queen’s Club. An encouraging straight-sets win over former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka at the Nature Valley International followed, before three hard-fought wins earned Murray his first quarter-final appearance of the season at the Citi Open. Murray showcased all of his fighting qualities in the U.S. capital, battling past Mackenzie McDonald, countryman Kyle Edmund and Marius Copil.

In what would prove to be his final event of the season, Murray showed signs of his best form at the Shenzhen Open to defeat top seed and defending champion David Goffin in straight sets. In the quarter-finals, Fernando Verdasco overcame Murray once again (also US Open) to advance to the final four.

Murray will open his 2019 campaign at the Brisbane International. He is a two-time champion at the season-opening event (2012 & 2013).

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah will make their Nitto ATP Finals debut this November at The O2. The Colombians clinched their place in the eight-player, eight-team field following the release of the draws for next week’s ATP World Tour 500 tournaments in Beijing and Tokyo.

Cabal and Farah are the second team to qualify for the 2018 tournament, joining Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, whom they faced in the Australian Open final earlier this season.

In addition to their first Grand Slam final, the Colombians also reached three other championship matches in 2018. They won their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and were runners-up at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires and Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Cabal, 32, and Farah, 31, first joined forces at the Futures level in 2004 and made their tour-level main draw debut in 2011 at Wimbledon. They have won 11 titles from 25 finals, highlighted by a season-high four titles in 2016. They served as alternates at the Nitto ATP Finals that year.

Top seeds Ben McLachlan of Japan and Brit Joe Salisbury, playing in their first tournament together, will play for the Shenzhen Open doubles title on Sunday.

McLachlan/Salisbury beat third seeds Roman Jebavy/Andres Molteni 6-4, 7-6(4) and will meet fourth seeds Robert Lindstedt/Rajeev Ram in the final.

Lindstedt/Ram defeated Max Mirnyi/Philipp Oswald 7-6(4), 6-3. McLachlan has celebrated one ATP World Tour title (2017 Tokyo), while Salisbury will go for his first title.

In Chengdu, top seeds Ivan Dodig/Mate Pavic advanced to the final with a 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 win against Santiago Gonzalez/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. Dodig/Pavic will meet Austin Krajicek/Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who beat Guido Pella/Joao Sousa 7-5, 6-1 in Friday’s other semi-final.

Fernando Verdasco ended Andy Murray’s bid for a second Shenzhen Open crown on Friday. The Spanish veteran reached his first ATP World Tour hard-court semi-final for almost 12 months with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in one hour and 40 minutes.

Verdasco was solid on serve – dropping just five of his first-service points (27/32) and hitting 11 aces, including on match point – to beat Murray for just the third time in 16 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.

“Beating a player like Andy, it’s always a tough thing to do. You have to push yourself to the limit and you know that you have to play really, really good from the first point to the last point, because he’s always there, he’s always fighting… You really have to be focused the whole match,” Verdasco said.

The 34-year-old withstood two break points at 4-4, prior to breaking Murray’s serve in the next game. He opened up a 3-1 lead in the second set, and finished with 36 winners (14 off his forehand wing). Verdasco, who also beat Murray in the US Open second round, last reached a tour-level hard-court semi-final in October 2017 at the Intrum Stockholm Open (l. to Del Potro).

“First set I think I had quite a few chances. Didn’t take them. When he had his opportunities he played well,” Murray said. “In the second set, he deserved to win. He served well. He was very aggressive from the back of the court and didn’t make too many mistakes.”

Earlier in the day, Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka advanced to his second tour-level semi-final by beating Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 7-6(2), 6-2 in 90 minutes. Norrie lost just five of his first-service points, but won 11 of 28 points on his second serve.

Alex de Minaur is on a roll and closing in a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November. The fast-rising 19-year-old moved to within one victory of a place in his third ATP World Tour final on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Australian overcame fourth seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-3, 7-6(7) in one hour and 43 minutes at the Shenzhen Open for a place in the semi-finals.

The Australian led 4-0 in the second set, but Dzumhur battled back from 1/5 in the tie-break and held one set point opportunity at 5/6.

“Everything was going according to plan, I was playing great tennis,” De Minaur told ATPWorldTour.com. “Then, I relaxed a bit and my intensity wasn’t as high as before, and he started to play better tennis. I got up 5/1 in the tie-break, almost home and dry, but he is such a good competitor he fought until the end.”

Should World No. 40 De Minaur beat France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert, a 6-7(6), 7-6(1), 6-4 victor over Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain, he will rise to a new career-high in the ATP Rankings. He began the year at No. 208.

With a 21-17 match record in 2018, De Minaur has reached finals at the Sydney International (l. to Medvedev) and the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. (l. to A. Zverev). He is currently in fourth position in the ATP Race To Milan.

“I feel like I’m really solid out there, making a lot of balls and playing smart tennis,” said De Minaur. “I’m not making any unforced errors and I’m doing what I need to do.”

Doubles Final Set
Top seeds Ben McLachlan and Joe Salisbury will take on fourth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Rajeev Ram in the Shenzhen doubles final. McLachlan and Salisbury defeated third seed Roman Jebavy and Andres Molteni 6-4, 7-6(4) in 87 minutes, while Lindstedt and Ram beat Max Mirnyi and Philipp Oswald 7-6(4), 6-3 in 87 minutes.