Murray Brothers Squander 1 M.P. & Rojer Earns 400th Doubles Win In Washington

Andy Murray and Jamie Murray saw their much anticipated return as a doubles team end in quarter-final action on Friday at the Citi Open. The brothers couldn’t convert against third seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, who triumphed 6-7(3), 7-6(6), 10-7.

“I’m just disappointed that we lost the match,” said Andy. “I think both of us had been serving extremely well up until the [Match Tie-break]. I would have liked to serve a little bit better in those big moments.”

There were no service breaks in the match, but Klaasen/Venus saved a match point on their serve at 5/6 in the second-set tie-break before levelling the score. The third seeds also trailed 5/7 in the Match Tie-break, but won five consecutive points to advance in one hour and 53 minutes. 

“We played a lot of good tennis. It’s good fun to play with Andy again, see him out there competing, fired up to play and playing really well,” said Jamie. “I guess it was a positive week. Disappointing to lose the way we did, but that happens in doubles sometimes.”

Klaasen/Venus have been in top form this season, taking the title in Halle (d. Kubot/Melo) and finishing runner-up in Rome (l. to Cabal/Farah) and Auckland (l. to McLachlan/Struff). They also reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and have won 10 of their past 11 matches. Next up for Klaasen/Venus are second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, with Melo riding high after picking up his 500th tour-level doubles win on Tuesday.

The Murray brothers split up next week at the Coupe Rogers, with Andy partnering Feliciano Lopez and Jamie teaming up with full-time partner Neal Skupski. Murray/Lopez, who won a title this June at Queen’s Club in their first tournament together (d. Ram/Salisbury), face second seeds Kubot/Melo in the opening round, while Murray/Skupski start their week against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. The Murrays could potentially meet in the quarter-finals.

Jean-Julien Rojer picked up his 400th tour-level victory, partnering Horia Tecau past four-time Washington champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-8. Rojer has won 28 tour-level doubles titles, including two Grand Slams with Tecau at 2015 Wimbledon (d. J. Murray/Peers) and 2017 US Open (d. Lopez/Lopez). The 2014 Washington champions (d. Groth/Paes) will meet Alex de Minaur and John Peers in the semi-finals.