Andy Murray was 2 points away from returning to the round of 16 of the Masters 1,000 since 2016 at the age of 36, but had to lose in pain against Tomas Machac (5-7, 7-5, 7-6 [5]) in the third round in Miami. The Briton (62nd) had nevertheless taken the lead in the first set, breaking at the end of the set (7-5).
But the 23-year-old Czech reversed the trend to get back to one set everywhere (7-5). Machac (62nd) thought he had done the hardest part by taking his opponent’s service at the start of the set, but the former world number 1 held on as usual to manage to break the break at 5-3.
Murray hit in the ankle
The match then took another turn when Murray sprained his ankle at 6-5. Seen by the physiotherapist, the Briton returned to the court and saved a match point to engage in a final tie-break, which he started better than his opponent.
Trailing 5-3, the Czech was very offensive, was rewarded, and did not tremble on his second match point after 3h27 of play (5-7, 7-5, 7-6 [5]). He will face Matteo Arnaldi (38th) for a place in the quarter-finals.
