Murray beats Kyrgios to reach US Open second round

Andy Murray successfully tamed his dangerous first-round opponent Nick Kyrgios as the British number one sealed a controlled four-set victory at the US Open on Tuesday.

Kyrgios produced a typically explosive display under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium but Murray's touch and precision were a class above as the Briton hit 18 aces and saved 11 of 14 break points en route to a 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-1 victory.

Murray has now won all four of his meetings against Kyrgios, including three at Grand Slams this year, and the Scot will now face France's Adrian Mannarino in round two.

The match was touted the highlight of the first round, with Kyrgios having dominated the headlines in recent weeks for an on court insult directed at Stan Wawrinka

World No 3. Murray showed his class with strategic play throughout the opening two sets, despite glimmers from the turbulent Kyrgios.

Kyrgios finally found a break at the start of the third set but, just as he had in the first set, immediately gave it back as Murray broke to love for 2-1.

t seemed inevitable Murray would make his experience count again but as Kyrgios knuckled down, the world number three wavered and a double fault helped his opponent clinch the third set.

With the momentum in his favour, Kyrgios took a toilet break, returned to the court without his sleeves and then received an audible obscenity warning from umpire Carlos Ramos as Murray broke in the very first game.

It was one-way traffic thereafter as a Kyrgios double fault handed Murray a double break for 5-1 before a looping forehand out confirmed the Scot's victory in two hours and 43 minutes.

After the match Murray said:  "I served pretty well for the most part, and got a lot of free points on my serve and got quite a lot of returns back in play and tried to make it difficult for him.

"It was tough. I had to do a lot of defending tonight, a lot of running tonight in very hot and humid conditions.

"He's unpredictable and can play all of the shots.

"He serves particularly well and he's a fantastic athlete.

"He's a big guy and covers the court extremely well. It's tough to get it out of his strike zone.

"It was a very tricky match. I fought hard, mixed it up and managed to get through."

Captain Wally defends Nick Kyrgios over Stan Wawrinka sledge

Wally Masur defends Nick Kyrgios over Stan Wawrinka sledge

Australia's Davis Cup captain Wally Masur has backed under-fire tennis player Nick Kyrgios, telling Fox Sports News that the sledging controversy has been blown out of proportion.

"When I actually saw the incident, what was fairly obvious is that Nick had his back turned to Stan, he was 90 feet away, and he mumbled it under his breath, I mean no way was he actually being confrontational," he said on Friday morning.

"It's just a case of the court-side microphone, which is pretty amazing what it picked up, picked up the audio.
"It wasn't the scenario I had in my mind when I read the headlines."

Masur's comments come at a time when condemnation has been virtually universal.

On Friday, the controversial young star, who was vehemently booed at the Montreal Masters ahead of his straight-sets loss to John Isner, was also criticised by top seed Novak Djokovic.

"Some players have problems to control themselves on the court. Sometimes when you go through the emotional challenges, it slips out of your mouth," said the close friend of Wawrinka after his victory over American Jack Sock.

"But again, there's no excuse for what he has said.

"He was fined, he deserved it. I think he's going to learn a lesson in a hard way. Hopefully this won't happen to him anymore.

"I understand that every player goes through certain tantrums, emotional ups and downs during the match. In a big fight and at this level, I understand.

"But it's not, I would say, fair, and there's no excuse of directing your tantrums to your opponent, especially to somebody that is not even there."

Djokovic said he had no problem personally with Kyrgios, but hoped he would mature.

"He's young, he's definitely one of the players that everybody's looking to. His quality of tennis is really remarkable for his age. He's doing very well. I've never had any problems with him personally. Off the court we had nice chats, practised with each other."

Stan Wawrinka hits back at Kyrgios

Stan Wawrinka has slammed Nick Kyrgios and called for disciplinary action to be taken after the controversial Greek Australian tennis star sledged him during their second-round clash at the Montreal Masters.

In a comment picked up by a courtside microphone, Kyrgios, 20, linked the reigning Australian and French Open champion with teenaged Australian player, Thanasi Kokkinakis.

"Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that mate," said Kyrgios midway through the second set.

Wawrinka divorced his wife Ilham earlier this year and has since been romantically associated with 19-year-old Croatian player Donna Vekic.

Kyrgios went on to win the second-round match in Montreal 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 4-0 after the third-seeded Wawrinka retired due to a back injury in the deciding set.

"So disappointing to see a fellow athlete and colleague be so disrespectful in a way I could never even imagine," Wawrinka tweeted afterwards.

"To (stoop) so low is not only unacceptable but also beyond belief.

"There is no need for this kind of behaviour on or off the court and I hope the governing body of this sport does not stand for this and stands up for the integrity of this sport that we have worked so hard to build."

Kyrgios will play American John Isner in the third round of the US Open lead-up event.