If Andy Murray could have hand-picked his second-round opponent at the European Open, it’s a fair bet Diego Schwartzman would not have been his first choice. The indefatigable Argentine, twice a finalist in Antwerp, is one of the last players you would want to see across the net less than 48 hours after playing the longest three-set match of the year. A first meeting with the second-seeded Schwartzman was nonetheless Murray’s dubious reward for surviving a three hour, 45 minute marathon against Frances Tiafoe, and he gave the world No 14 a testing time, opening up a 4-1 lead in the opening set and threatening to force a decider before falling to a 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) defeat.
Ever his own harshest critic, Murray drew scant consolation from the knowledge that he once again pushed one of the world’s best players close. So far as he is concerned, a loss is a loss regardless of circumstance. It is a harsh attitude, but understandable. Murray knows what it is to lift the game’s greatest prizes and, even with a metal hip, the 34-year-old holds himself to unforgiving standards. He expressed bitter disappointment after losing in five sets to world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open, and castigated himself for inconsistency and poor shot selection after losing a tight match against the fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells. Here, Murray pinpointed his attitude and decision-making as the chief areas of concern.
“I didn’t make as many good decisions as I would have liked in the second set dealing with adversity,” said Murray, the world No 172. “Mentally I was poor and my attitude was poor on the court. They are two things you can control. If they’re not there, that will make the decision-making harder in the matches.
“Sport is a results business. Play well or poorly, it doesn’t matter if you lose matches. You need to be winning. That’s what I want in the last few tournaments [of the season]. There are no guarantees the results will come, but I want to win more matches.”
Kinder draws would help. As Murray rightly pointed out in Indian Wells, most of his losses in recent months have come against players ranked inside the top 15. Tsitsipas and Zverev aside, the former world No 1 was beaten by Casper Ruud in San Diego and Hurbert Hurkacz in Metz and Cincinnati. Moreover, as his epic win over Tiafoe indicated, his body has been holding up better to the rigours of competitive play than at any stage since his return to the sport following hip surgery. Schwartzman was no more in doubt about the upward trajectory of Murray’s game than the vanquished Tiafoe, who hailed the Scot as “a true inspiration” and “the biggest competitor I know” in the aftermath of their opening-round epic.
“It was like I said to him, it was a pleasure to play against Andy,” said Schwartzman, who will face Brandon Nakashima, the rising young American, in the last eight. “We didn’t play before. He’s coming back, every week he’s moving better and he’s playing better. I just have a lot of respect [for him], because when I grew up I was watching Roger, Rafa, Andy and Djokovic. Right now, to play against him, it’s a pleasure for me and I was just trying to enjoy the match.”
How far the Argentine enjoyed the initial passage of play is debatable. Murray began in commanding mood, dictating the tempo from the baseline as his depth and variety made life uncomfortable for Schwartzman. The second seed belatedly found his range, however, sealing the opening set with a run of five successive games before breaking early in the second to establish a 4-2 lead. Murray clawed his way back into contention and saved a match point with a 116mph ace at 6-5 down in the tiebreak. He had twice come back from match point down against Tiafoe, but this time there was to be no reprieve.
Murray will play at next week’s Vienna Open before a possible appearance at the Paris Masters next month, either as a wildcard or in the qualifying competition. “There’ll be a decision on the final Paris wildcard on Monday, but I might even play the qualies there,” he said.