U.S. Open: Andy Murray falls to Fernando Verdasco in second round

Andy Murray understands. His tennis game currently is encased in unsightly scaffolding. The renovation is ongoing. Hip surgery was a wrecking ball, smashing his No. 1 ranking to smithereens. And from here—looking up from No. 382—“you just don’t know what’s around the corner,” he said.

But he’s building, and Wednesday’s 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 second-round U.S. Open loss to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco was part of the process. Murray and Verdasco, the tournament’s No. 31 seed, battled in mid-90s heat for three hours and 23 minutes. The final game alone went on for 10 minutes.

So: “To sort of still be doing as well as I was at the end of the match,” Murray said, “considering the lack and kind of practice and matches that I’ve had, was positive.”

The U.S. champion in 2012 and twice a Wimbledon champ since then, Murray had established himself solidly among the sport’s Big Four—alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic—before his injury.

But this was his first appearance in a Slam event in 14 months. He had executed a late withdrawal from Wimbledon in early July when he determined that his post-operative fitness was not yet sufficient for best-of-five matches. For this Open, he made it clear that he had no expectations of being a contender.

That role falls to others, including some of the familiar names in action yesterday. Top-seeded Rafael Nadal coasted past 88th-ranked Vasek Pospisil in straight sets. No. 3 seed Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 Open champ, cruised past Virginian Denis Kudla, ranked 72nd,also  in straight sets. Stan Wawrinka, who won this tournament two years ago but is playing as a wild card because of knee surgery that has left him with a ranking of 101, knocked out French qualifier Ugo Humbert, ranked 139th, in four sets.

Last year’s Open runner-up and No. 5 seed, Kevin Anderson of South Africa, needed just three sets to dispose of France’s 46th-ranked Jeremy Chardy. And, while all that was going on, top-ranked American John Isner, the No. 11 seed, was reprising his role as the sport’s king of endurance.

It wasn’t anything like the two longest matches in tennis history, Isner’s 11-hour, five-minute win over Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010, or his 6-hour, 36-minute loss to Anderson in this year’s Wimbledon semifinal. But Isner had the benefit of a fifth-set tiebreak rule here and outlasted Nicolas Jarry, Chile’s 42nd ranked player, in three hours and 38 minutes—6-7 (7), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Certainly, Isner has proven that patience is a virtue. Which gets back to Murray’s situation.

“I think some of the tennis I played today was some of the best I’ve played since I had the surgery. Or since I came back,” Murray said. “But there were also periods in the match where, you know, I really didn’t play particularly well. There were too many ups and downs for my liking.

“It’s still quite early in this process for me. I did all right. I chased balls down right to the end of the match. I wasn’t giving up points. It wasn’t the most comfortable I’ve felt on a tennis court. But I got through it and fought right to the end.

“There’s for sure doubts. I believe I can get back to competing for the biggest competitions. But, you know, you don’t know.”