Andy Murray’s comeback from February hip surgery is taking flight fast–faster than anyone could have imagined, in fact.
In his sixth ATP tournament since his comeback, Murray captured his first ATP title since February of 2017 when he overcame Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the European Open on Sunday afternoon. The 32-year-old Scot trailed by a set and a break before storming back and eventually triumphing after two hours and 27 minutes.
“It means a lot,” Murray assured. “The past few years have been extremely difficult. Both me and Stan have had a lot of injury problems in the past couple of years. Amazing to be back playing against him in a final like that. I think it was a great match. I didn’t expect to be in this position at all, so I’m very happy.
“This is one of the biggest wins that I’ve had after everything (that happened).”
Wawrinka has dealt with plenty of injury issues of his own and was playing in Antwerp for the first time since the U.S. Open due to a knee problem.
“He’s an amazing champion, he’s part of the Big Four, he’s one of the top players to every play this sport,” the 34-year-old Swiss praised. “He’s won everything possible on the tennis court. He’s a big champion, always a fighter. He’s coming back from hip surgery (and to play) at that level, it’s something amazing.”
While Murray’s title was his first in a while, Denis Shapovalov’s triumph at the Intrum Stockholm Open marked his first ATP title ever. Shapovalov got the best of Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 24 minutes on Sunday afternoon.
At the VRB Kremlin Cup, Andrey Rublev treated the Russian crowd to a 6-4, 6-0 final rout of Adrian Mannarino. Rublev lifted a winner’s trophy for the first time since 2017 as a lucky loser in Umag by hammering the Frenchman in one hour and two minutes.
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amazing, Andy