Andy Murray is two wins away from adorning his career swansong with a medal at Paris 20204 after he and his men’s doubles partner, Dan Evans, reached the quarter-finals with a dramatic win over Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen having saved two match points.
The 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), (11-9) was a further act of escapism after their white-knuckle ride two days previously in the first round. On that occasion they had to recover from five match points down in overcoming Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel; this time they lost two of their own before battling back when they came under fire, Evans ultimately putting the third away with an emphatic volley before leaping into Murray’s arms.
These were ecstatic celebrations and now Murray, twice an Olympic singles champion and three times a grand slam winner, can hold realistic hope of going out with a bang at 37 years old. Lying in wait next are either the American pair, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz, or the Dutch partnership Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer. If Murray and Evans win that tie they will reach the semi-finals and will, as a minimum, be guaranteed a shot at bronze.
In prolonging his last-ever run at a professional tournament, Murray avoided signing off mutedly. The match was played in front of a sparse crowd at Court Suzanne-Lenglen, the second-largest arena at Roland Garros. A venue that had been packed to the rafters for the day’s previous game, which saw the feted combination of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz book their own place in the last eight, had largely emptied out by time Murray and Evans entered the fray.
Perhaps many of those with tickets had simply needed to cool down. The courtside temperature was 31 degrees when Evans opened the serving at 8.23pm local time, the humidity stifling. Conditions throughout the afternoon had fallen only slightly short of being deemed unsafe for play, sprinklers being deployed in some of the public areas to offer visitors relief from the heat. More than one spectator was seen receiving medical treatment having seemingly felt the effects.
Murray underwent surgery for a cyst on his back in June but recovered in time to compete this summer. He was unable to make a final appearance at Wimbledon earlier this month after his planned mixed doubles partner, Emma Raducanu, pulled out. The Olympics had always been targeted as his grand farewell and last week he opted out of competing in the singles competition in order to strengthen his chances in the doubles.
With Evans, hardly a youngster himself at 34, a punchy and energetic presence alongside him they raced into a 3-0 first-set lead. There were flashes of the old brilliance from Murray: a beautifully timed return to put Vliegen’s serve in trouble at 0-30 in the second game and a beautiful lob to commence his own first service game a few minutes later. The timing was on point and communication between the teammates clearly more effective than during Sunday’s nailbiter.
It proved a decisive spell. Gille and Vliegen are an experienced pairing who sit joint 35th in the ATP men’s doubles ranking; they were never going to depart without a fight and, while Murray and Evans took the first set, the second was deadlocked. All four players’ serves were resolute and a tie-break looked likely from an early stage. Two match points were squandered and, when the previously reliable Evans double-faulted, the spectre of a quickfire eliminator was made real.
At 9-7 down, the curtain looked all but certain to fall. None of the quartet who were still battling out there just before 10.30pm, the mugginess never really letting up, are spring chickens but the Belgians appeared sharper. They reckoned without the remarkable resolve of Murray, who put away one of four successive points with an unplayable straight return. It was left for Evans to apply the coup de grace, and the fairytale moves closer.
