Andy Murray’s wait to officially hang up his tennis racket goes on after winning the second round of the Olympic men’s tennis doubles.
The Scot and partner Dan Evans saw off Belgian duo Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in an epic clash, which they won 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 11-9.
Murray, now 37, has confirmed he will end his glittering career after this summer’s Games.
He dropped out of Paris 2024’s single events, which he was forced to do at Wimbledon too due to him recovering from surgery on his back.
Despite appearing to be uncomfortable on the court, he and Evans beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Taro Danie in the first round, saving five match points.
A tricky test against unseeded Gille and Vliegen came next at Roland Garros – a duo who have plenty of experience in the doubles format.
After winning the first set, the pairs were deadlocked for much of the second and the game eventually went to a tense tie break.
“Let’s go Andy, let’s go!” the Scot’s fans in the crowd bellowed as the pair hit match point twice but to no avail.
“Mate, you’ve got to hear that. It’s so obvious,” Murray fumed to the umpire after believing Vliegen’s serve hit the net.
The Belgians went on to win the tie break and the second set as Evans double faulted on his serve to take the game to a match tie break.
But in the end, despite it looking like Murray’s career was about to come to an end, Team GB rode out the pressure to win the champions tie break 11-9.
“It’s getting late now, later and later!” Evans told talkSPORT after the match. “We played some really good stuff but I thought we were really unlucky not to get it within two sets.
“I thought we were the better team today by a long stretch in the first two sets and then in the third set tie break anything can happen as we’ve seen.
“But we were clinical when it mattered from nine all and 10-9 we played our plays really well and got it done.”
Murray has won two Olympic gold medals during his career.
His first came at London 2012 in the men’s singles, with his second coming in the same event at Rio 2016.
Murray also won silver in the mixed doubles in 2012 with Laura Robson.
He and Evans will face the winner of tomorrow’s tie between the USA and the Netherlands, with Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul playing Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz and fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal secured a 6-4, 6-7, 10-2 win over Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof to reach the quarters.
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News Summary:
- Andy Murray jumps for joy as retirement put on hold as he and Dan Evans fight to reach Olympic doubles quarter-finals
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