It’s Braveheart Murray
World No1 won’t give up his new status without a fight after epic win over Raonic
MILOS RAONIC was the man who first handed Andy Murray the world No1 position, and for much of a breathtaking, lungbusting afternoon at the O2 Arena it seemed that he could be the man to take it away.
He gave the 29-year-old Scot a walkover in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters a fortnight ago, but this time made Murray strain every sinew in his body to survive into the championship match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
An exhausting, thrilling 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 victory clinched on a fourth match point was the result as this corner of London reached fever pitch. The importance of the win was clear when he screamed to his box: ‘I’ve got a f****** big heart.’
Now the world’s best player needs to summon up one last effort to become the year-end holder of that status.
Raonic will feel he should have won before a dramatic suddendeath tie-break. The three hours and 20 minutes group match against Kei Nishikori seemed to have sapped Murray at times, but his bloody-minded determination saw him through to a 23rd consecutive win, this time in three hours and 38 minutes, the longest match in this event’s history. How much it will have taken out of him for today remains to be seen.
The deciding set was exhausting enough by itself. A tug-ofwar until 4-4, Murray looked like he was going to nick it when he gained a service break to love as the Canadian blinked first. But Raonic was not finished and he promptly broke back — a test even for the sangfroid of Murray’s coach Ivan Lendl.
Murray then broke again, a netted Raonic forehand following a double fault. Yet still Raonic had more, and responded with piercing returns and penetrating forehands to secure another break and take it into a sudden-death shootout.
The two men swapped aces before Murray got to 5-4, only to be defied yet again by the quality of Raonic’s returns. A netted forehand set up match point for the Scot, but his opponent saved it with another blistering forehand.
A sliced backhand going long provided a second match point, on which Murray returned the compliment by floating one long. An ace set up the third match point, but Raonic slapped a vol- ley which his opponent netted.
Murray saved the first match point against him at 8-9 by setting up the volley, and then hit a service winner to set up the third match point at 10-9.
This time Raonic crashed a forehand into the net, setting off a cacophony among the 16,000strong crowd.
The Canadian’s consistency off the ground and his returns were a thorn in Murray’s side throughout, and he will be left wondering what on earth he has to do to beat this man.
Raonic had made light of his 0-5 record this year against Murray in the first set, which saw the Scot begin brightly enough and then fade thereafter.
He forced a first break point at 2-2, which saw him shank a forehand and then three more at 4-4, which were saved with calm assurance by the world No1.
Murray’s second serve was
holding up well, but Raonic was being surprisingly successful in the baseline rallies and his own first serve was as lethal as usual.
The Scot came into this event with a 8-10 record at the venue and the 11th game was reminiscent of his past struggles here, as he completely threw it away with a string of errors that culminated in a double fault.
Murray got his first break point at 1-0 in the second, but after directing a precision return sent a forehand wildly long.
He then netted a routine backhand when creating a second one as Raonic held in a game that lasted more than nine minutes.
A second break came in the next game when he netted a forehand, again unable to disrupt Raonic’s rhythm on the baseline.
From nowhere Murray broke to love in the next game as the Canadian tightened up and it started to look like it might be a repeat of the Queen’s final, when he came back from a set and a break down.
But missing a straightforward backhand with Raonic stranded at the net on break point in the next game looked like it would be crucial, as the score moved to 3-3.
With the crowd trying to rouse Murray and the Canadian’s firstserve percentage slipping there were several half-chances, but the Raonic forehand was excellent, matching his composure in the partisan atmosphere.
Kevin Spacey and Jimmy Carr were among the crowd at the Arena as Murray desperately tried to stage a rearguard action in the second set, that resulted in a tiebreak.
Murray got ahead for 4-1 with a glorious backhand half-volley, but was reduced to 5-5 when a net cord sat up invitingly for his opponent. A wonderful forehand volley brought up set point and Raonic sent a forehand long for it to end 7-5 and set up the dramatic decider.