Tonight:
5°c
Tournament chiefs have refused to give Andy Murray a break from the searing heat at the Cincinnati Masters today, forcing the world No4 to take on Mardy Fish under the midday sun.
All of Murray's matches while winning the Toronto Masters and reaching this quarter-final have taken place in the afternoon and he asked for a later start. Instead, he has been scheduled to begin “not before noon” which raises the possibility of the Scot again having to play in temperatures of nearly 100°F.
He suffered sunburn on his face while beating Ernests Gulbis in three tough sets 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 after two and half hours on the baking court.
“I felt tired and those are the tough ones to get through,” Murray said.
“I have played all of my matches since Toronto between noon and 3pm. It was pretty warm and I got burnt on the face and dehydrated. I would have liked a match in the evening and it was fair to request a later match after eight or nine matches in the heat. Anybody would be feeling [tired] in my position.”
Murray and Fish have met six times. with three wins each, but the American came out on top in their last two encounters in Miami and at Queen's.
Meanwhile, world No1 Rafael Nadal survived a match point in the second set before beating France's Julien Benneteau 5-7, 7-6, 6-2.
