Andy Murray lost in the second round to South African Kevin Anderson. However, the following week, he won the 2011 Western & Southern Open after Novak Djokovic retired due to injury. At the 2011 US Open, Murray battled from two sets down to win a five-set second-round encounter with Robin Haase, but lost in the semi-finals to Rafael Nadal in four sets. Murray easily won the small 250-class Thailand Open, and the following week he won his third title in four tournaments at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. His opponent in the final was Rafael Nadal, whom he beat for the
2016 Andy Murray tennis season set and double-break down to beat Benoît Paire, reaching his first quarter-final since the Australian Open. There he beat Raonic for the second time in the year, losing just two games in the match, but lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the semi-final. Murray also competed in the doubles with partner Dominic Inglot, reaching the quarter finals before losing to Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. Murray arrived in Madrid as the defending champion, and defeated Radek Štěpánek, Gilles Simon and Tomáš Berdych on the way to a second semi-final of the year against Nadal, this time winning in straight sets.