Knee injury leaves Murray in US Open fitness battle

The second seed, who won the singles title at London 2012 with a straight-sets defeat of world  No 1 Roger Federer, had been due to play Canadian Milos Raonic on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals in Toronto.

Murray, who also picked up a silver medal in London alongside Laura Robson in the mixed doubles, had felt soreness in his knee after his second-round win over Italian Flavio Cipolla on Wednesday.

“It’s unfortunate. I think it would have been a fun match,” the Scot said.

The 25-year-old from Dunblane added on www.atpworldtour.com: “I hope he has a good tournament. It will be great for him to go deep in this tournament here for the first time.”

After physio work on both Wednesday and Thursday Murray decided it was best not to risk further injury, with the start of the US Open less than three weeks away.

He explained: “It was a bit sore yesterday [Wednesday], then I had some treatment after the match. It felt a bit better, and then I came in today [Thursday) and saw the physios. They did some work on it and it’s still a bit sore.

“I did a little warm-up on the bike to try it out and it was still sore, so I had to make a decision as to what I was going to do... I don’t want to go full out and possibly do any more damage. That was why I decided not to play.”

Murray added: “Normally when I move on to hard courts, I have ten days or so practicing and you feel things like this, but you can work around it by doing the right training and what not.”

The Scot said he is unsure whether he can play in Cincinnati next week or what his status is for the US Open. “Over the next few days we’ll come up with a plan and strategy to either get myself ready for Cincinnati, or if not, then plan for the best way to prepare for the US Open,” Murray continued. “But today I won’t think about any strategies or whatever. It’ll just be about what’s the next move and where do we go from here.”

Raonic was able to pass on his best wishes to Murray when they spoke after the Canadian learned of his opponent’s withdrawal.

He said: “I just wished him that he gets healthy quick, because he’s been playing really well lately. It’s my first quarter-final in a Masters 1000 event, and to be at home is pretty special. I guess there is a give and take with it.”

Murray was the latest big name to pull out, with Federer and Rafael Nadal withdrawing before the tournament began. And the weather in Toronto hasn’t been great either.

Not even Novak Djokovic’s  attempt at drying off centre court could salvage play as the rain hit late on Thursday and singles play was washed out.

Top seed Djokovic, the defending champion and world No 2, was among those set to play before his last-16 match against American Sam Querrey was wiped out along with the other seven singles matches on the schedule.

Djokovic, however, was unruffled by the rain as he walked on to centre court shortly after his 7pm match was set to begin and started playing with a squeegee before hitting a few balls while holding an umbrella in his left hand.

With more rain forecast for last night and possibly into the weekend, tournament organisers could be left scrambling to get matches played in time for tomorrow’s scheduled final.

In the women’s event at Montreal, Roberta Vinci routed former champion Ana Ivanovic 6-0, 6-0. The 28th-ranked Vinci needed only 45 minutes to eliminate 12th-ranked Ivanovic and advance to the third round of the hardcourt tournament. Ivanovic won the Rogers Cup  in 2006.