Tennis: Bautista Agut beats Safiullin in Barcelona
he Spaniard, who is chasing his 12th ATP Tour crown this week, will meet seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the second round.
Scottish tennis star Andy Murray has become the latest top player to pull out of the US Open, citing a nagging hip injury.
“I did pretty much everything that I could to get myself ready here and took a number of weeks off after Wimbledon,” the three-time Grand Slam champion said on Saturday.
The 30-year-old World No.2, winner of the 2012 event, is the fifth player ranked in the ATP Tour’s top 11 to withdraw from Flushing Meadows after Serbian two-time champion Novak Djokovic, Swiss defending champion Stan Wawrinka, Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Canada’s Milos Raonic, reports Efe.
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Murray has not played since Wimbledon, where he was upset in the quarter-finals by American Sam Querrey.
“I obviously spoke to a lot of hip specialists. I tried resting, rehabbing, to try and get myself ready here. I was actually practising OK the last few days, but it’s too sore for me to win the tournament and ultimately that’s what I was here to try and do. Unfortunately, I won’t be playing here this year.”
Murray appeared to have a favourable draw, and his absence leaves the bottom section wide open. The US Open begins in New York on Monday.
Out of 64 players in that half, Croatia’s Marin Cilic — who has taken Murray’s place in the draw — is the only player to have won a Grand Slam title: the 2014 US Open.
Spanish 15-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal and Switzerland’s Roger Federer — winner of a record 19 major titles — are in the top half of the draw and could meet for the first time in the US Open if they both reach the semi-finals.
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