Lessons learned from Andy Murray's win over Nick Kyrgios at US Open
Wednesday 2 September 2015 15:08, UK
It was billed as the big server against the big returner - a modern day classic - but in the end Andy Murray proved too good for Australian showman Nick Kyrgios in a pulsating night match on Arthur Ashe.
The world No 3 knew it was always going to be tough against the mercurial talent of Kyrgios, whose audacious shot selections during his 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-1 defeat left spectators in awe.
But after two hours and 43 minutes of pure entertainment on a warm summer's evening in New York, it was the Scotsman who progressed and despite dropping his first ever set against the 20-year-old, he owns a perfect 4-0 record against Kyrgios.
Here, we look at what lessons we learned from his match and what Murray will expect from his second-round opponent, Adrian Mannarino.
Too fast, too furious
Kyrgios could not handle the blistering ground speed and irresistible hand speed shown by Murray, who enjoys playing night matches on Ashe.
Court coverage is something the young Australian is learning quickly from the world No 3, who simply excels on the American hard-courts. Generally on tour, a very healthy 36% of Kyrgios' first serves don't come back, but against Murray that statistic was cut in half.
This is the third time this year Murray has beaten Kyrgios at a major tournament after previous straight-sets' wins at the Australian and French Opens and the Scot has only dropped one set during his meetings with the world No 37.
Cool amid the chaos
Trick shots, racquet slams and complaints to the umpire all played their part in the Kyrgios bonanza but Murray was cool amid the chaos.
Kyrgios' attitude comes from tennis' younger generation where he frequently sacrifices efficiency for showmanship and the British No 1 was all too aware of what he was up against.
The attention-grabbing 20-year-old leaned back in his chair and rested his head, looking as if he might be ready to take a nap in between sets.
Murray gave the Australian credit for a series of great shots in breaking him at the end of the third set to extend the match, but conceded that Kyrgios can be plagued by lapses of concentration.
"It's important when you're playing against him to just concentrate on your side of the court," said Murray. "If you start getting distracted by that, it's easy for you to lose your concentration. I'd say the times when I played against him, I've done a pretty good job of just concentrating on my side.
"But in almost all the matches I've played, there have been a couple of points where I have laughed on the court or smiled because some of the stuff is funny."
Regrouping in the face of adversity
The 2012 US Open champion and 2013 Wimbledon winner regrouped well at the start of the fourth set after a lack of concentration - a double fault followed by a slack forehand error - which cost him his first set against Kyrgios.
A few years ago he might have let those errors get into his head, but he has since added an ability to reset. He immediately hit back with a break in his first game of the next. Murray knew he was guaranteed to face adversity at some point in the match so his reaction to it was pretty special.
"He played loads of offensive tennis," said Murray. "I came to the net a few times and had loads of success, but I was finding it tough to get up the baseline because of the way he was hitting the ball.
"I tried to stay solid, tried to mix it up, could have hit my slice a bit better - it was a little bit short - and he was able to dictate that shot so that's something I need to do a bit better in the next round."
Superior game
Murray was far superior from the service line, hammering in 18 aces to 11 from the hard-hitting Australian.
The Scotsman blasted 46 winners - many coming off ill-advised drop shots floated over the net by the 6-foot-4 Kyrgios - kept the unforced error count to a minimum - 23 in comparison to his opponent's 39.
He is also showing a fine ability to hang on to his service games, with Kyrgios creating many opportunities, but able to take just three out of 14 opportunities. Murray was far more ruthless, taking seven out of his 15 chances.
What to expect from Mannarino
Frenchman Adrian Mannarino will be Murray's second-round opponent. The 27-year-old slight left-hander was a 7-6 6-4 6-1 winner over Russian Konstantin Kravchuk and has the ability to cause the Scot some serious problems.
They've only played each other once before - at this year's World Tour Masters at Indian Wells and although Murray came through that one 6-3 6-3, world No 35 Mannarino gave him a headache
"He's tricky," admitted Murray after his first-round win. "He's a talented guy, he's flashy and like Nick, he's unpredictable.
"He obviously serves pretty well and stands a long way over on court using his lefty serve a lot. And like I say, he hits the ball very flat, so he's a tough opponent who has played very well this year."
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