Seeing two lucky-losers face off in the first round of a tournament is nothing new. But seeing it play out after two packages recorded several hours apart is much more unlikely. Karen Khachanov (11th) and Andy Murray (36th) were opposed to entry on Tuesday at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati. A clash between two former top 10s. But neither the Russian nor the Briton showed up on the court.
The 36-year-old Scotsman was the first to withdraw on Monday night due to a strained abdominal contracted last week which had already forced him to forfeit before his round of 16 in Toronto against Jannik Sinner.
The German Daniel Altmaier, 52nd and beaten in the second qualifying round by Corentin Moutet, was therefore drafted. And had to challenge Khachanov. But the latter withdrew just before starting. While he played doubles with Robin Haase on Sunday, the 2022 US Open semi-finalist hasn’t played a singles match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Roland-Garros quarter-finals due to a stress fracture. The Russian was replaced by the Australian Alexei Popyrin (58th), also beaten in the last round of qualifying.
