Fritz/Paul send Murray into retirement, Krajicek/Ram reach gold-medal match
pAmericans a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tommy-paul/pl56/overview'Tommy Paul/a ousted Great Britain's a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniel-evans/e687/overview'Daniel Evans/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-murray/mc10/overview'Andy Murray/a on Thursday at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/archive/paris/96/2024/results'Paris Olympics/a, bringing the 37-year-old Murray's career to a close.nbsp;/p
pThird seeds Fritz and Paul raced to a 6-2, 6-4 win, booking their place in the Paris semi-finals. They will next meet Australians a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/matthew-ebden/e690/overview'Matthew Ebden/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/john-peers/pc96/overview'John Peers/a./p
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pldquo;This has just been such a great week on the doubles court with Tommy," Fritz said. "Obviously today, I wasnrsquo;t expecting getting a little emotional when Andy is leaving the court. Itrsquo;s crazy. Hersquo;s someone Irsquo;ve looked up to my whole life, so itrsquo;s sad and also kind of crazy to be the ones to play him in his last match.rdquo;/p
pEvans and Murray scored two dramatic wins this week, saving five consecutive match points in the first round to defeat Japan's a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taro-daniel/da81/overview'Taro Daniel/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/kei-nishikori/n552/overview'Kei Nishikori/a. They produced more magic in the second round, fending off two match points against Belgians a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sander-gille/gd32/overview'Sander Gille/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/joran-vliegen/v895/overview'Joran Vliegen/a./p
pldquo;Irsquo;m sad to be finishing but the last couple of weeks since we arrived here have been brilliant," Murray said. "Irsquo;ve had a lot of fun being around the team. The Olympics is such a special event to be around all the athletes and being part of such a big team cheering each other on.br /
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ldquo;I wish we could have done a little bit further, but maybe we were a little fortunate to be in the quarter-finals. We could have lost the first two matches, but we fought so hard in all of them. Wish we could have played a little bit better today, but that wouldnrsquo;t have guaranteed that we would have won because Tommy and Taylor played really, really well.rdquo;/p
p
pA vocal crowd on Court Suzanne-Lenglen tried to will Evans and Murray to another thrilling comeback. Paul served for the match at 5-2 in a lengthy game that Evans and Murray won on their fifth break point. Fritz held his nerve to close the quarter-final on their second match point before all four players shared a warm embrace at the net./p
pldquo;It got tricky there in the end,rdquo; Paul said. ldquo;I was joking around with him earlier, I said, lsquo;If we get a match point, we better get the first one because we all saw their first couple rounds.' But obviously that wasnrsquo;t the case. It got tricky there and luckily I had Taylor to serve it out for me."/p
pMurray, a 46-time tour-level titlist who reached No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, was in tears as he waved goodbye to the crowd./p
pThe American team of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/austin-krajicek/ka00/overview'Austin Krajicek/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rajeev-ram/r548/overview'Rajeev Ram/a, seeded fourth, advanced to the gold-medal match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Czechs a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tomas-machac/m0fh/overview'Tomas Machac/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/adam-pavlasek/pg32/overview'Adam Pavlasek/a. Krajicek and Ram on Wednesday ended the hopes of Spanish stars a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-nadal/n409/overview'Rafael Nadal/a./p
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