Murray defends umpire’s role in last-eight defeat
BRITISH No1 Andy Murray last night refused to blame a contentious call from umpire Damian Steiner that cost him the chance to force a first-set tiebreak in a 7-5, 6-3 defeat to old foe Novak Djokovic in Miami.
Murray won the last meeting between the pair to lift the Wimbledon trophy in 2013.
But his defence of the Sony Open title was halted at the quarter-final stage yesterday as Djokovic gained some revenge on the Scot with a straight sets victory.
However, the match was somewhat overshadowed when a point was awarded to Djokovic with Murray serving to stay in the first set, despite the world No2 appearing to lean over the net to hit a winning volley.
Murray remained gracious in defeat though, alleviating any blame from Steiner.
“It’s a hard one for the umpire to call,” he said. “It’s just frustrating.
“His racquet was over the net. It’s quite clear, you can see it on the replay. I’m not angry. It maybe had a slight bearing on that game, but I was still up a break in the second set.”
Djokovic admitted he was unsure of the rule and acknowledged the incident had a detrimental effect on his opponent.
“Obviously that distracted him,” he said. “Maybe the rule is you cannot hit on his side with the racquet. I’m not sure.”
A double fault saw Murray gift Djokovic a chance to break at 2-1, but the Scot dug deep to twice save the game.
Djokovic saved a break point of his own at 5-5, before the contentious call appeared to leave Murray flustered as he surrendered the first set, conceding the first of three break points.
The two-time grand slam winner regrouped though, and took the initiative in the fifth game, though Djokovic immediately broke back to level at 3-3.
The Serb broke again at 5-3, then served out the match to reach the semi-final and stay on course to win his fourth title in Florida.