FIRED-UP MURRAY BLASTS INTO THE FINAL
Scot eyes historic gold after turning up power to brush aside Nishikori
NOT a ranking point or a dollar of prize money in sight, but that has no relevance to Andy Murray, who is one match away from pulling off his mission to win another gold medal.
The world No 2 put in a wonderfully aggressive performance to defeat Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-4 in 79 minutes, his serve and return particularly outstanding.
Murray looked emotional at the end after needing three match points to close it out, having nervously missed the first two and then set up a third with an incredible backhand pass while in the midst of falling over.
He will play Juan Martin del Potro, the winner of a titanic second semifinal against the resurgent Rafael Nadal which he won 7-5 4-6 7-6 after a three hour battle, but Murray was focused last night on making history as the first double gold-medallist in men’s singles.
‘It’s obviously not an easy thing to do, that’s why it’s never been done before,’ he said. ‘I’m going to give my best effort and I’m happy I’m guaranteed a medal, but the goal is obviously the gold. I am pumped (to be in the final) and I’ve got to get a good rest now.’
Murray and Nishikori walked out for a high-calibre semi-final to a stadium with barely 2,000 fans in it, albeit as the first match of the programme. Both looked leg weary after arduous quarter-finals that they were lucky to survive and Murray accepted afterwards that he had come into the match feeling a ‘little bit tired’.
In slightly less windy conditions than of late, the opening games were close with both men feeling each other out in some lengthy rallies on this slow surface.
Murray looked cloyed by tension in the previous two matches but in the fourth game started to really crack his groundstrokes off both flanks and force the speedy Japanese on to the back foot.
He broke for 3-1 with a series of forehands that drove Nishikori into the corner and then kept calm when, in the next game, he was given a somewhat harsh time violation by umpire Carlos Ramos.
Murray, able to exert pressure with his return of serve, broke for a second time when his opponent made a terrible hash of an overhead and then closed it out comfortably in 31 minutes with an ace. But we have seen before this week that the first set guarantees nothing for Murray, and Nishikori seemed to up his game accordingly.
That was until the fifth game, when unforced errors crept back into the world No7’s game and he was broken after a hopelessly miscued drop shot. Murray consolidated it emphatically with strong serving to go 4-2 up.
The Scot wanted to stay fired up and found the means to do that through Japanese fans shouting out and photographers moving courtside. He was also nonplussed by Nishikori being late out from a changeover after his own caution.
Murray added: ‘I played really well, especially on serve. I served by far my best this week. I was very aggressive when I was returning, so it was a really good performance.’
He will need to show the same aggression when he takes on Grand Slam-winner del Potro in the gold medal match.