Andy Murray, left, and Daniel Evans of Britain celebrate a point during their match against Joran Vliegen and Sander Gille of Belgium during the men’s doubles tennis competition at the Roland Garros stadium, at the Paris Olympics 2024 Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Andy Murray cried “happy tears” after he delayed his retirement from tennis on Tuesday with another thrilling Paris Olympics doubles win with Dan Evans where they saved match points for the second successive round.
Murray and Evans defeated Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 11-9 to qualify for the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.
They saved two match points in the final-set tie-break, two days after they had saved five match points in their opening-round victory.
In a rollercoaster clash on Court Suzanne Lenglen, the British pair wasted two match points of their own in a gripping second-set tie-break.
“It’s obviously unbelievably emotional and it was. You are unbelievably happy,” said Murray, 37, who sank in his chair courtside and buried his head in hands.
“And then for whatever reason, I don’t know what happened. It was like happy tears, I don’t know why.”
Andy Murray, left, and Daniel Evans of Britain compete against Joran Vliegen and Sander Gille of Belgium during the men’s doubles tennis competition at the Roland Garros stadium, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
He added: “Excited that we managed to get through another amazing finish. It takes a lot out of you, that sort of stuff. So I’m glad we get a day off tomorrow.”
Murray, who has claimed three Grand Slam titles, reached the world number one spot and pocketed two Olympic singles gold medals, will retire once his Paris campaign is over.
This year he has suffered a serious ankle injury and underwent surgery to remove a cyst on his spine which ruled him out of playing singles for the final time at Wimbledon.
Despite saving seven match points over two rounds Murray insisted that it does not mean he is destined to finish his career with a third gold medal.
“The margins are so fine,” said Murray. “We really need to perform at a really high level in a couple of days.
“You build confidence by winning just like that today and your opponents see that. You are coming back when you’re behind and that builds belief.
“But you can’t have that mentality of like, oh, this is just going to happen. You know, we need to be switched on for the next one.”
Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, the US third seeds, or Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands are the British pair’s next opponents.
Victory there will put them in the semi-finals.
Evans hailed Murray as “amazing”.
“I don’t think he wants to go home, does he?” said Evans. “I don’t know how he retires like that.
“We’re getting close, really close to doing something pretty special. We played great tonight.”