Andy Murray crashes out of Rennes Challenger with a 3rd set meltdown against Safiullin

Wednesday, 15 September 2021 at 21:09

Andy Murray is out of the Rennes Challenger after losing in 3 sets against Russian Roman Safiullin 2-6 6-4 1-6.

Another disappointing result by Andy Murray happened today at the Rennes Challenger where he was only playing his 2nd match of the event. Murray took a chance to play in Rennes as a way to play some more tennis especially as his ranking continues to dip and chances to do so at the highest level are fewer and fewer. After winning his first match he took on Safiullin who is number 158 in the world.

The first set was a bad one by Murray as he was completely outplayed by the Russian who served well and playing very aggressively from the baseline. Murray was caught off guard with the aggressive playstyle and failed to adjust in time resulting in a 2-6 first set loss. He did adjust in the 2nd set and generally played much better.

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His serve improved and he read the Russian's serve a lot better. That created some chances for Murray and he finally used one very late in the set when he broke Safiullin at 4-4. He closed out the 2nd set with 6-4. It seemed like Murray would be able to pull out the match but a very bad meltdown followed in the 3rd set. Murray played one of the worst sets in recent memory where he did not do a single thing right.

Safiullin completely outplayed Murray from the baseline as the Brit proved very shaky and erratic. A strange finish to the match especially when Murray swung momentum back to his side after the 2nd set. Another disappointment for the Brit who will stay in France and travel to Metz for the Moselle Open next week.

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Who's ready for more @andy_murray? 🙋‍♂️ The three-time Grand Slam champion takes on Roman Safiullin for a spot in the quarterfinals! Stream #ATPChallenger action from Rennes 👇

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