Andy Murray won a battle of Wimbledon champions Wednesday at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open in Newport. The two-time singles titlist at SW19 worked hard to find a way past the slice-and-dice game of Max Purcell, who won the Wimbledon doubles title on Saturday alongside Matthew Ebden.

In a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory, Murray needed time to find a way through the unorthodox Purcell, who sliced nearly all of his ground strokes in the two-hour, 23-minute match. The Australian’s tactic frustrated his opponent early on the grass court, but after falling behind 1-5 in the opening set, Murray found a way to attack the lack of pace.

Playing in Newport for the first time since 2006, Murray moved to the brink of victory with a battling hold to make it 4-1 in the third set. He let out a roar when a big serve saved a break point, then celebrated again when an ace sealed the hold — one of his eight in the contest.

Murray appeared to tweak his inner thigh or groin as he slipped to the turf early in the final set, but managed to close out the match despite some discomfort in the final stages.

Despite the scoreline in the final two sets, Murray was made to work for each game. He finished with seven breaks on 15 chances, while saving seven of the 11 break points against him.

The second-seeded Murray advances to face Alexander Bublik in the third round, after the third seed defeated Jack Sock 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 earlier on Wednesday.

Fourth seed Maxime Cressy also advanced courtesy of a 6-3, 6-4 win in an all-American matchup against Mitchell Krueger. He will next face Steve Johnson, who advanced past seventh seed Jiri Vesely via walkover.

Felix Auger-Aliassime is currently seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin as he tries to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. On Monday, the Canadian gained special insight into a very different race.

The 21-year-old, who is competing in this week’s Infosys Hall of Fame Open in Newport, visited 11th Hour Racing Team’s sailboat and spoke with its co-skipper, Charlie Enright, as he prepares to sail around the world in The Ocean Race 2022-23.

“We just came on a very spectacular sailboat that’s actually preparing to go across the globe next winter, so pretty fascinating to see,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I don’t get to see those kinds of things every day. Charlie, one of the members of the team, who is going to be going around the world, he showed me around the boat.”

Enright and his team are more than just sailors, though. They raise awareness for ocean health and help educate others on sustainability.

Auger-Aliassime said that caring for the environment is important, and something society needs to focus on. The World No. 9 added that players on the ATP Tour have a role to play as well.

“As [a] Tour, we’re going around the world. There are definitely efforts that we can keep on doing to make our world a better place, not just for now, but for the future,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I would be happy to be a part of it to do the things that I can control the best that I can to make a good impact. And definitely I think as a whole we can make a difference.

“People like this are very inspiring in what they do. The effort, the courage it takes to do everything that they’re doing is very inspiring.”

The Infosys Hall of Fame Open works with 11th Hour Racing to make the tournament as sustainable as possible. Some of the ATP 250’s initiatives include eliminating single-use plastic bottles, straws and bags, providing an enhanced compost programme, using recycled paper in all printed materials and packaging beverages in recyclable aluminum cans.

“It’s [a] collective effort. Everybody has to put a hand to it. But I think as a whole, the Tour, we have an opportunity to make a difference, at least in our ecosystem, and at least in our sport. Then it will hopefully have a bigger impact,” Auger-Aliassime said. “But I think within the tournaments, with the recycled bottles, we’ve seen more of those now in the tournaments. I think it’s really good.

“Maybe they’re going to invent recycled tennis balls one day, that would be pretty good also. But initiatives are always good to see and I think they’re needed for the future.”

Auger-Aliassime brought tennis to the water, trying to rally on the boat. But the Canadian for the rest of the week is going to stick to the grass courts in Newport, where he is pursuing his first ATP Tour title on the surface.

“I wouldn’t want to play a match in these conditions!” Auger-Aliassime said, cracking a laugh. “It was cool to try to rally a few balls on the boat.”

Francisco Cerundolo held off his own nerves and a strong comeback from defending champion Casper Ruud to cause a second-round upset and earn his first Top 10 win at the Nordea Open in Bastad on Wednesday afternoon.

Cerundolo broke Roland Garros finalist Ruud’s serve three times to run out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 winner at the ATP 250 event in Sweden. Despite the World No. 5 Ruud raising his level after a slow start to pile the pressure on the 23-year-old Argentine, Cerundolo clinched a decisive break in the 12th game of the third set to reach the quarter-finals in Bastad for the first time.

“I think I was playing really well in the first one-and-a-half sets, and then I got a little bit tight,” said Cerundolo. “I started missing a little bit and he started serving better. He’s a great player, a French Open finalist, so it was a great challenge for me and I’m really happy to get through.”

A First Top 10 Win! 🎉@FranCerundolo upsets World No. 5 Casper Ruud with a 6-4 3-6 7-5 win in Bastad#NordeaOpen @NordeaOpen pic.twitter.com/Zk7bNOX7O3

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 13, 2022

Cerundolo and Ruud’s sole previous meeting came in the semi-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau in March. The Norwegian was a comfortable straight-sets winner on that occasion, but Cerundolo was clinical at key moments on Wednesday as Ruud struggled to find his rhythm in his first match on clay since he fell to Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros championship match in early June.

Cerundolo, who is up to No. 35 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, will next face Aslan Karatsev or Hugo Gaston as he seeks his third tour-level semi-final of 2022.

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Earlier on Wednesday, Pablo Carreno Busta notched his 250th tour-level win with a hard-fought 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory against 2016 champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Both players broke their opponent’s serve five times in a topsy-turvy second-round clash, but it was Carreno Busta who prevailed to move to 4-0 on clay against fellow Spaniard Ramos-Vinolas, with all four of those meetings having gone to a deciding set. The fifth seed will next face Diego Schwartzman or Elias Ymer as he looks to advance to the semi-finals in Bastad for the first time, in what is his fifth appearance at the ATP 250 event.

Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini survived a scare to reach the quarter-finals at the Nordea Open Wednesday, edging Ariel Behar and Tomislav Brkic 7-6(3), 2-6, 10-3 in Bastad.

The second seeds, who enjoyed a run to the final together at the ATP 250 event in 2018, raised their level in the Match Tie-break to ensure they started their title quest with victory, advancing after one hour and 43 minutes.

The Italians are aiming to capture their second tour-level crown of the season as a team this week, having lifted the trophy in Rio de Janeiro in February. They will next play Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa at the clay-court tournament.

Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez continued their strong season, downing Filip Bergevi and Lukasz Kubot 7-5, 6-1 to advance to their ninth quarter-final of the year. The fourth seeds captured titles in Marrakech and Mallorca earlier this season.

Nikola Cacic and Aleksandr Nedovyesov became the first team to reach the semi-finals in Bastad, edging Marc-Andrea Huesler and Pavel Kotov 4-6, 6-2, 10-3 in 72 minutes. Cacic and Nedovyesov are joining forces for the first time this week and will next play either Bolelli and Fognini or Carreno Busta and Sousa.

Purcell/Van Rijthoven Advance In Newport
Max Purcell could not get past Andy Murray Wednesday on the singles court at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open, but he found more joy on the doubles court just days after lifting the Wimbledon doubles title alongside fellow Aussie Matthew Ebden.

Purcell and Tim van Rijthoven, who reached the Wimbledon singles fourth round in his tournament debut, defeated Max Schnur and Artem Sitak 7-6(2), 7-6(3) to make a winning start in Newport. They next face fourth-seeded Americans William Blumberg and Steve Johnson.

Also advancing in Wednesday’s doubles action were Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow. The third seeds won an all-American matchup against Richard Ciamarra and Sam Querrey to set up a quarter-final meeting with another American pair in Alex Lawson and Robert Galloway.

Playing at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open for the first time since 2006, Andy Murray carried his strong grass-court form into Newport with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Sam Querrey on Tuesday.

“It’s obviously amazing to be back here and playing on this court again after 16 years,” Murray said in his on-court interview. “A lot has happened in that time: four kids, married and all that stuff. But I’m happy to be back.” 

After falling to another big-serving American in John Isner in the Wimbledon second round, the 35-year-old  beat Querrey on his opponent’s home turf to return to winning ways. The sixth-seeded Briton improved to 6-2 on the grass this season, including a run to the Stuttgart semi-finals last month, when he lost to eventual champion Matteo Berrettini.

Murray was a perfect six-for-six on his break chances in the match as he dragged Querrey into rallies on return throughout the 54-minute contest. The Briton dropped serve in the opening game of the match but was firmly in control beyond that, coping with the blustery conditions far better than his opponent. 

“It was so breezy and really difficult… but we’re doing the best we can given the conditions,” added Murray, who said he prioritised a high first-serve percentage and hit to big targets to avoid wind-whipped errors. The Briton made 76 per cent of his first serves in the match compared to Querrey’s 39 per cent. 

“Any match that I get to play now I try to make the most of it,” he said. “I’ve obviously had a lot of issues with injuries the last four or five years. You never know how close you are to the end, but I’m aware I’m getting towards the end of my career so I make the most of every match and every tournament I get to play now.”

With the victory, Murray moves into joint-seventh place in Open Era grass-court win percentage according to Infosys ATP Stats, with a 116-25 record on the surface, an identical mark to Boris Becker.

Open Era Grass-Court Win Pct. Leaders (min. 100 matches)

Murray advances to face Max Purcell in the second round. The Australian backed up his Wimbledon doubles triumph alongside countryman Matthew Ebden with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory against Adrian Mannarino earlier on Tuesday.

Also advancing at the ATP 250 in Newport were fifth seed Benjamin Bonzi, seventh seed Jiri Vesely and eighth seed James Duckworth. Bonzi defeated American William Blumberg 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Vesely downed Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2 and Duckworth edged Liam Broady 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Tim van Rijthoven, who claimed his maiden tour-level title on the grass of ‘s-Hertogenbosch last month and reached the Wimbledon fourth round, could continue his strong run in Newport. American Mitchell Krueger earned a 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3 victory to eliminate the in-form Dutchman.

Andres Molteni and Hugo Nys earned victory on their team debut Tuesday, overcoming Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round at the Nordea Open in Bastad.

The Argentine-French tandem saved both break points they faced to advance after 74 minutes. They will next play fourth seeds Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez or Lukasz Kubot and Filip Bergevi.

Fabrice Martin and Franko Skugor provided the shock of the day, upsetting top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(3), 6-3. The French-Croatian pair, who were playing together for the first time, won 81 per cent (38/47) of first-serve points to triumph.

In other action, Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa defeated Aslan Karatsev and Philipp Oswald 7-6(3), 7-6(5), while Marc-Andrea Huesler backed up his singles win over Holger Rune by teaming with Pavel Kotov to eliminate Leo Borg and Elias Ymer 6-1, 6-4 in 55 minutes.