Murray on the march
ANDY MURRAY roared into a French Open semi-final showdown with Novak Djokovic after beating Spain’s David Ferrer for the first time on clay yesterday. The British No 1 continued his 100 per cent record on clay in 2015 with a 7-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 win and faces the world No 1 tomorrow. Murray said: ‘Going into the match having not lost on clay this year is important.’
Andy Murray toiled for three-anda- quarter hours to suppress a relentless opponent last night — and the scary thing is, that was the easy bit.
now comes the ultimate test in tennis, trying to slay the Serbian dragon novak djokovic and stop him claiming his first title at roland Garros, something the dethroned rafael nadal singularly failed to manage earlier on yesterday.
Murray reversed his result against Ferrer from the same stage of this event three years ago by winning their French Open quarter-final 7-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. The Spaniard battled until the death and with his commendable fight he did djokovic a hardly needed favour.
The world no 3’s cause will not have been helped by being detained longer than necessary after forcing a match point at 5-4 in the third set against serve.
Murray will need every ounce of energy to overcome his nemesis, although one factor gives cause for faint optimism.
a heatwave is heading this way and tomorrow it is expected to be 30 degrees, which ought to act as a leveller against a player who has occasionally struggled in high temperatures.
another is that Murray has less expected of him, and he should be able to play freely off the back of this 15th consecutive clay- court win, testament to the fact he has mastered the surface as he moves into his late 20s.
This is his best form yet in making the semi-finals here for what is the third time in his last four starts — not bad on what is considered to be his least favourite surface.
yet that will mean little as he tries to reverse his poor recent record against the all-powerful Serb, who has beaten him on the seven occasions they have met since the 2013 Wimbledon final.
Murray does not believe that there could be some kind of mental letdown for his old rival after the momentous nadal result.
‘I don’t think there are any negatives that you can have from winning against someone that has won this event nine times and beating them in straight sets,’ he said. ‘I’m not buying that it can be negative in any way.’
now level with Fred Perry for the most British wins at roland Garros, he felt that preparing himself for yesterday’s win and to challenge tomorrow have been part of a gradual process.
He said: ‘I have done it the last four or five weeks, really. It’s not about the next 48 hours. To put yourself in position to win against the best players in the world — it’s about what you do in the whole of the build-up. Going into the next match having not lost on the surface is important for me.’
a key reason behind this first clay win against Ferrer was Murray’s aggressive position to receive second serve well inside the baseline. It planted doubt in the Spaniard’s head and helped yield 11 double faults and 65 per cent of the points every time Ferrer missed his first delivery.
as with Jeremy Chardy, Ferrer had intermittent issues with his ball toss and Murray was eventually able to capitalise. That was after he had come through a desperately nervy first set when, in control at 4-3 up with a break, he ended up needing to save two set points to take it into a tiebreak.
Ferrer, still stewing from his missed opportunities, started it terribly and Murray held solid to race to a 6-1 lead, eventually claiming it 7-4.
Having chuntered his way through the early stages of the second set, he sprinted to 3-0 in the third — with Ferrer complaining about the clicking of cameras as he served.
But he never gives in and took advantage of Murray briefly letting his guard down to level at 3-3. In the eighth game Murray was leading 30-0 against serve when he called out ‘ no!’ in thehe middle of the rally — thinking he had overhit a forehand — and was called under the ‘ hindrance’ rule andnd lost the point.
It was a fair enough judgment from US umpire Jake Garner, but still somewhat ironic in an era when players are allowed to omit lingering grunts or shrieks on every point with impunity.
Murray, who has never been docked in this way before, admitted he was in the wrong but questioned whether Ferrer knew much about it. Soon afterwards he forced a match point at 5-4 but Ferrer dominated the point and smashed away a winner.
The Scot then played a loose game and it went to a fourth, which he cruised through after two devastating early backhand winners gave him the break.
But you wonder how much influence on the semi-final Ferrer may have had by doggedly elongating the contest, and how much Murray had to leave out there.