RIO DE JANEIRO – Three-time major champion Andy Murray has hinted at retirement again after pulling off a milestone victory at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Murray recorded his 500th hardcourt victory after registering a 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Canada’s Denis Shapovalov in the first round of Dubai tournament.
Sebastian Baez, meanwhile, won his fifth and biggest title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against his Argentine compatriot Mariano Navone at the Rio Open.
The fifth-seeded Baez wasn’t seriously challenged by the 22-year-old Navone, a qualifier, in the final of the clay-court tournament.
Neither of the two Argentinians had been among the favorites to lift the title, but defending champion Cameron Norrie, Carlos Alcaraz, Stan Wawrinka and Nicolas Jarry had all stumbled.
Baez is the second Argentinian to lift the trophy, with Diego Schwartzman the first in 2018.
Murray, meanwhile, battled back from a set down to beat Shapovalov and reached the second round of the Dubai Championships.
The former world number one, who snapped a six-match losing streak in Doha last week before going out against Czech teenager Jakub Mensik, won 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
“I still love competing and still love the game. Obviously it gets harder and harder the older you get,” said Murray, according to AFP, after clinching his 500th win on hard courts, joining Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal in reaching the milestone.
“Yeah, it’s not bad (500 hard-court wins). Hard courts have been a great surface for me over the years… I’m very proud of that,” he added according to AFP.
The 36-year-old Murray struggled to contain a powerful first-set display from former top-10 player Shapovalov, who is searching for his best form after missing the end of last season through injury.
But the three-time Grand Slam champion edged a second-set tie-break before easing through the decider with a double-break.
Murray has not reached the quarter-finals at an ATP event since his final loss by Daniil Medvedev in Qatar over a year ago.
Murray dropped 17 spots in the ATP rankings, falling to 67th place. “Both of us haven’t won too many matches lately,” said Murray.
Murray, who snapped a six-match losing streak in Doha last week before going out against Czech teenager Jakub Mensik, told the BBC last December that 2024 could be his final year on the ATP Tour.
Murray appeared to say to his player’s box during his loss to Mensik last week that “this game is not for me anymore”, but he played down those comments.
“People read a lot into what I say on the court sometimes and it’s not always rational,” he added. “But everyone asks me about it all the time anyway.”
“He missed a large part of last year. He’s obviously played well here in the past and he’s serving unbelievable. You need to try and get the balance right between reacting to his big shots, but not just trying to get balls in the court. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to get it done in the end.”
Andrey Rublev recovered from a slow start to reach the second round in Dubai for the fifth consecutive year, defeating Zhang Zhizhen 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4.
The second seed, who is now 5-0 in opening matches in 2024, hit 18 aces and saved both break points he faced to improve to 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP series after one hour and 51 minutes.
“I am so happy because the conditions were super tough,” Rublev said. “He played amazing in the first set. He was not missing at all on serve, serving 220 and it was so tough to return and do something on return.
“I am happy I was able be there and as soon as I had a chance in the second set I was able to take it. Then I had one more chance in the third set and was able to take it.”
World No. 5 Rublev won the title in Dubai in 2022 and reached the final in 2023. The 26-year-old will continue the quest for his second trophy of the season against Lorenzo Musetti or French qualifier Arthur Cazaux.
