Andy Murray wins US Open clash against Moutet as racket smashed in fit of rage

Andy Murray started his US Open campaign with a convincing 6-2 7-5 6-3 victory over Corentin Moutet on Tuesday. The Frenchman is known for causing controversy on the tennis court and he received a code violation for smashing his racket during the second set, also getting booed in the third when he tried to speed up play. Murray now joins fellow Brits Cameron Norrie and Katie Boulter in the second round. It marks Murray’s 200th match win at Grand Slam level.

Murray was facing Moutet for the first time as he started his campaign to reach the second week of a Grand Slam. The Brit narrowly missed out on a seeded spot but was lucky to get a favourable first-round draw in world No 72 Moutet.

It also marked the 36-year-old’s first match since he picked up an abdominal strain in Montreal and pulled out of the Canadian Open, also skipping the Cincinnati Open the following week. But Murray declared himself fit going into Flushing Meadows and immediately imposed himself on the Frenchman, holding break points in Moutet’s first two service games.

Murray finally got the break at 4-2 and he didn’t lose another game in the first set, racing to take it 6-2. But momentum shifted when the 2012 US Open champion was leading by 40-0 while serving at 2-2 in the second set.

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Moutet suddenly raised his level and managed to break the Brit’s serve for the first time in the match. The 24-year-old saved a break-back point and found himself serving for the second set at 5-4 but he was dragged into a lengthy game lasting more than 10 minutes as Murray had three chances to break.

The world No 37 saved two set points and managed to convert his fourth break point of the game as Moutet saw red, smashing his racket in a fit of rage and receiving a code violation. The Frenchman lost his focus after failing to close out the set with Murray breaking him again to steal the second 7-5.

Moutet started throwing in the underarm serves by set number three, bringing out some of his old tricks while finding himself in a tricky position. And there was more drama when the 24-year-old called the physio to the court believing they would be able to give him pickle juice, muttering to the umpire when he learned that this wasn’t allowed.

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With Murray serving at 2-2, Moutet suffered a bad fall at the baseline and appeared to land on his left wrist as he curled up in pain and stayed down on the floor. The Brit rushed over with the umpire as the physio came onto the court but the world No 72 got back up and continued playing.

And the antics continued as Moutet was booed when he tried to dramatically speed up play while facing a break point at 2-3. The Grandstand crowd started jeering the 24-year-old as he tried to serve immediately after the last point when Murray clearly wasn’t ready.

His tactics worked as the former world No 1 failed to get the break and Moutet held on. And the world No 72 tried the same tricks when he faced more break points at 3-4 but this time he was unsuccessful as Murray broke and had the chance to serve for the match.

Moutet still wasn’t out of the match as he requested the new VAR-style video replay system when the umpire argued that the ball bounced twice before he hit it, meaning he didn’t win the point. But it emerged that the video reply being shown on Grandstand wasn’t available to officials making the decisions as it came from TV cameras.

It meant that the original call stood and Murray went 30-30, eventually serving out a straight-set victory after some extra theatrics at the 11th hour. The three-time Major winner will now face either Grigor Dimitrov after the 19th seed saved three match points and came from two sets down to beat Alex Molcan.

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