Andy Murray out of Surbiton challenger after loss to Denis Kudla

Andy Murray played yet another solid match on grass in Surbiton but his opponent Denis Kudla simply proved better 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3.

The first set opened extremely well for Murray who was magnificent. Kudla took some time to get into the match and after avoiding getting down 0-4 the American found some solutions. He pulled the break back and it seemed like we were heading to a tiebreak but a couple of bad rallies for the American cost him the set 5-7. Murray served better in that first set and ultimately it proved key.

Kudla won only a 3rd of his 2nd serve points and that was too much to overcome against Murray who knows all the tricks on grass. The 2nd set was a close one as both players dominated on their own serve. Neither player could carve out a single break point before we reached the tiebreak. In the tiebreak, the wind proved a factor but it was Kudla who proved better overall taking it 7-4.

In the final set Murray completely lost focus dropping his serve early and he never got the focus back. His serve was not as sharp and he was simply outplayed by Kudla who attacked and committed far fewer errors. He finished off the job with 6-3.

o