Murray to mix it with Fritz in Washington

Andy Murray will test himself against top seed Taylor Fritz in the third round of the ATP Washington tournament after the Scot advanced at the US Open hardcourt tuneup event.

Murray defeated American Brandon Nakishima 7-6 (5), 6-4 while the ninth-ranked Fritz stopped practice partner Zachary Svajda 6-3, 6-3.

The American seed won his only previous meeting with Murray last August in the Montreal first round.

Murray’s win came exactly five years after he posted a draining post-midnight victory here but was unable to continue into the next round due to exhaustion and injury recovery.

This time the story was different in the US capital.

“I thought I did well, I hit the ball very well from the beginning of the match,” the Scot said.

“I was struggling a little bit on the return. Brandon serves well, especially his second serve; I was struggling to create many opportunities on return. 

“But I was just a little bit more solid than him at the end of the tie-break, he made a few mistakes, I put enough balls back in play.”

The 36-year-old ranked 44th added: “I got the break immediately at the beginning of the second set and served it out pretty well from there. 

“It was tight at the end; it’s not easy to finish points. It was a good one to get through.”

Murray was competing for the first time since losing a Wimbledon  second-round heartbreak loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Murray fought form 2-5 down in the opening-set tiebreaker and saved six break points on the way to victory in just over two hours.

The Scot reached the Washington final in 2006 but did not return to the event until nine years later.