By Chris Oddo | Friday September 28, 2018
Andy Murray fell in straight sets to Fernando Verdasco and promptly pulled the plug on his 2018 campaign.
Photo Source: AP
Andy Murray’s 2018 campaign has come to a thudding halt.
The Scot dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to Fernando Verdasco on Friday at the Shenzhen Open and promptly delivered the news that he would be withdrawing from next week’s China Open in Beijing due to an ankle injury. The event was due to be Andy Murray’s final tournament of 2018, a season that has seen him struggle in fits and starts after returning from February hip surgery this summer.
Murray finishes the season with a 7-5 record and he’ll begin 2019 outside of the ATP’s Top 250.
Verdasco cracked 11 aces and saved five of six break points while also taking advantage of the fact that Murray was never really able to find a high gear over the course of the 99-minute contest. The Spaniard improves to 3-13 lifetime against Murray and has defeated him on consecutive occasions for the first time.
“When he had his opportunities he played well,” Murray said. “In the second set, he deserved to win. He served well. He was very aggressive from the back of the court and didn't make too many mistakes.”
Verdasco will face Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in Saturday’s semifinals. Nishioka reached his second tour-level semifinal with a straight-sets win over Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur will face France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the lower-half semifinal. De Minaur began the season at 208 in the ATP rankings, but the 19-year-old has a shot to get inside the top 30 with a title in Shenzhen. He ranks No.2 among ATP teenagers, second only to Canada’s Denis Shapovalov.
If De Minaur claims the title he would pass Shapovalov in the rankings, however.
Murray, who started the week at 311 in the ATP rankings, is projected to start next week at 259.