This was not all about the mysterious and probably temporary dip in form of Andy Murray as the men’s draw began to open up at this US Open. The world No2, who had not dropped a set in the tournament, took three hours and 17 minutes to subdue the courageous challenge of an Italian veteran, Paolo Lorenzi, and it was the loser who walked off Arthur Ashe Court to the louder applause.
Murray is in the fourth round for the sixth year in a row, and ninth time in all, but he acknowledged he will need to rediscover the momentum he had built up in the first week if he is not to come to grief against Grigor Dimitrov on Monday.
“That will be a tough match,” he said courtside. “Grigor [who earlier beat the Portuguese João Sousa in four sets] has been playing well the last few weeks, got a lot of good shots, very talented guy. I’ll need to play a good match to win.”
Murray’s third-round struggle was nowhere near as straightforward as the 7-6, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 scoreline might suggest. It rarely is. Indeed, hidden in the detail are enough devils to keep Murray occupied for many of the next 48 hours before he plays Dimitrov.
His serve, which earlier had clicked with lethal precision, deserted him for the first two sets and he will have to take a close look at his wrist position at the moment of impact, because he hit a lot of serves long. He also struck 63 unforced errors, nearly twice as many as Lorenzi. What might concern him most, though, is his inability to strategically dominate the Italian, who made him run more than two miles during the course of the match, for a leg-sapping average of 47 feet per point.
So credit to Lorenzi, who emerged from the tennis shadows to light up the big stage on probably his only visit. He did not appear to bring a lot to the table except a late-career surge that probably surprised even him. He arrived dressed in tartan shorts and, having limped away from his previous match so cramped a ball kid had to hand him his racket, he might have wondered about his stamina.
This is by some measure the best season of his career, however, and he has earned everything that has come his way. There was no time for doubt. He knew he would not get a chance like this again in his life. He has lost in the first round of qualifying at Wimbledon six times; likewise on the clay of Roland Garros, where he feels more comfortable.
Nearly as old as Roger Federer but not quite as rich, Lorenzi failed to get into 23 majors on the spin before cracking it at Roland Garros two years ago, and he squeezed into the third round here with the gutsiest win of his career, a five-setter over nearly five hours to put out the Frenchman Gilles Simon on Thursday.
Lorenzi, who took a set off the Scot in Adelaide 10 years ago, and lost to him in qualifying here the following year, will have been aware that Murray does not lose often to Italians.
Lorenzi, a seasoned campaigner, initially bore the look of someone just happy to be here, but, after playing his [losing] part in a rally of astonishing virtuosity on the second point of the sixth game, he seemed infused with self-belief. With break point against him at 3-4, he drop-shotted Murray for deuce to show his serious intent. He ignored a double fault and the distraction of reflection from an executive box window on a second break point to hold.
This tournament, of course, was the scene of serious Italian heroics last year, when first Roberta Vinci put out Serena Williams on the brink of a calendar slam, then lost to her compatriot Flavia Penetta in the final. Now Lorenzi, against all expectations, broke Murray after 38 minutes and was serving for the first set. Who would have thought it?
Shouts of “wake up!” and “come on!” punctured the air at Murray’s end, just in front of Ivan Lendl, who did not look even mildly concerned. Murray moved inside on Lorenzi’s weak second serve, forced an anaemic forehand out of him and was back in business – but, after an hour’s entertaining tennis, he had to come through a tie-break to go 1-0 up.
They exchanged breaks at the start of the second, then Murray sent a couple of rackets to the stringer. Consecutive aces half an hour after his first seemed to reboot his game but moments later he double-faulted to trail 4-2. A botched Murray smash drew gasps of disbelief and Lorenzi was a game away from levelling.
After letting his first-serve efficiency dip to a dreadful 21%, Murray found another ace, and held for 3-5. A 42-shot rally of grinding excellence got him two break points in the ninth game and the Italian looked vulnerable. But when Murray hit long to hand him the second set, a dark mood settled on the Scot’s camp.
Murray repaired the damage in the third. His first serve rocketing to 84%, and, pressuring Lorenzi’s second serve, he pocketed the set without trouble.
If Murray could finish him off quickly, he would satisfy a lot of newspaper deadlines, but even trailing 0-2, Lorenzi did not lose his manic smile or his hunger for the fight.
He clung to him like a limpet all the way to the line, before Murray broke him for the seventh and final time.
