January 13, (THEWILL) – David Goffin was forced to withdraw from his last eight match at the Sydney Tennis Classic and that saw Andy Murray through to the semi-finals of an ATP event for the first time since 2019.
Murray won the opening set 6-2 against the Belgian, who appeared to be labouring to move fluently after tweaking his knee in his previous match in Sydney.
As the first set progressed, Goffin was attended to by the trainer but it did not alleviate his discomfort, and the two challenges shook hands at a set down, allowing Murray proceeded to the final four.
The withdrawal is the latest setback for Goffin, the former world number seven, who was forced to miss the end of 2021 due to a serious knee condition, which itself came after he was sidelined following an elbow surgery.
Murray, on the other hand, put in another great performance as he ratchets up his warm-up for the year’s first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, next week. The Scot got off to a good start, moving Goffin about the court to take a 3-0 lead.
The Belgian rallied, but Murray fought back in an eight-minute service game at 4-2 to pull within a game of the set, then added the next to reach the final four.
Murray has now won three consecutive matches in an ATP event for the first time since his victory at the 2019 European Open.
In post-match comments, Murray was happy with his progress: “The movement was what I was most pleased with. I maybe made a few more errors than I would have liked but I thought I moved well.
“I did a lot of running – [it was] good to come out and move well today.”
In the semi-finals, Murray will meet the tough American Reilly Opelka, who defeated compatriot Brandon Nakashima in straight sets, hitting 17 aces in a 7-6 (7-4), 602 victory Murray has never faced Opelka in a competitive match.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
