A top seed at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the first time, Andy Murray did well to reach the final of the Western Southern Open before falling to Marin Cilic. The Brit saw his career-best 22-match win streak snapped by the inspired Croatian, but took positives from his deep run in Cincinnati.
“I’m very proud of this week. Obviously today didn’t go the way I would’ve wanted, but I certainly didn’t expect to get to the final,” said Murray, who arrived in Cincinnati after winning his second consecutive Olympic gold medal. “It was a very positive week. Now I’m looking forward to a few days’ rest.”
The short turnaround after Rio caused Murray some physical discomfort and nearly derailed his Cincinnati run.
“After the first match I played, I was having problems with my shoulder,” Murray said. “I did speak about it with my team, but my physio was pretty confident that it was just fatigue, and that I didn’t have any sort of structural damage in my shoulder.
“When it was said that I wasn’t going to make it worse by playing, I thought: ‘Let’s go for it this week. Let’s try and get through as many matches as we can.’”
Murray’s superior form carried him to a seventh consecutive final and nearly allowed him to win his fifth title of the year. In 2016, Murray won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Rome and the Aegon Championships before securing his second Wimbledon title. Against Cilic, he was aiming for his 40th tour-level crown.
“I think I’m playing my best tennis just now. It’s not even close to anything else I had done before. Seven finals in a row, winning Wimbledon again, and the Olympics. It’s been really good,” said Murray, whose next event will be the US Open, a tournament he won in 2012. “I really didn’t expect to be here. It’s obviously disappointing when you get to the final and don’t win, but it was a very, very positive week considering everything. Mentally I’m in a good place just now. So I’m looking forward to New York for sure.”
