We wrap up the opening day of Wimbledon at Centre Court with Grand Slam veteran Andy Murray from Britain v one of our Aussies in action – James Duckworth.
What a brilliant response from Duckworth with early 1st set lead out of nowhere, having held Murray back for a while before he moved onto the 2nd set in his way. However, he just couldn’t kick on ever since where Murray had the better execution and long-run consistency in the end, with three sets being tied up to advance into Round 2 for Day 3 tomorrow v 20th Seed John Isner from the USA.
The final score is 4-6 to Duckworth; 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to Murray.
It’s gutting to see Duckworth leave very early but great effort though to try & stay in this fight nonetheless. He’s always great at responding which is one of the traits you need to be prepared at grand slam level, having won the opening set following a poor start there. But building on that opening set lead to keep it consistent & executing it is another trait if you really want to go all the way – which is something he couldn’t do before he left it too late by the fourth set. He’s 30 now so let’s hope he learns a thing or two from the legend like Murray so Duckworth can possibly make more possible upsets like this.
And congratulations to Andy Murray with the win – who still has something to offer at the age of 35 – even though he hasn’t advanced to any finals appearance in recent years since the 2017 US Open Quarter-Finals. He was tested earlier on when his fantastic start to this opening tie was challenged by Duckworth en route for the opening set lead. At the end of the day however, he’s good at being persistent where Murray was too good over the next two sets – before he came home first at his own pace that denied Duckworth the chance to bring out the 5th & final set decider. Now Cameron Norrie may have the top-ranked seed at No.9 by a Briton, but Murray still has his supporters’ backing in a bid to get back to his best on home soil if he can get past Isner.
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