Murray has plenty left in tank for final fling
Andy Murray displayed admirable powers of recovery after Thursday’s epic to move into his second aTP Tour final of the season.
Having played a 31-minute tiebreak in his last-eight match against Philipp Kohlschreiber, yesterday was a relative romp for the world no 1 as he beat Lucas Pouille to reach the final of the dubai duty Free Championships.
Murray broke at the end of the first set and then eased through the second to beat the Frenchman 7-5, 6-1 in 94 minutes. He now faces powerful left-hander Fernando Verdasco in this afternoon’s final for the chance to win what would be a first title of the season.
That would help the Scot put the disappointment of the australian Open behind him before the first Masters events of 2017 in america.
He leads the Spaniard 12-1 in their career meetings. Still, the three-time Grand Slam champion is wary of Verdasco’s ball-striking ability.
‘He can generate a lot of power, he can control the ball,’ said Murray. ‘and when he is dictating the points, he’s one of the best in the world at doing that.’
Verdasco reached the semi-finals in Qatar and even had five match points against novak djokovic. But he will need to be more clinical against Murray, who saved seven match points in his quarter-final here against Kohlschreiber.
Both Murray and Pouille were below their best, which was understandable as they had lengthy and dramatic matches which ended late on Thursday night.
‘I don’t think it was the best match,’ said Murray. ‘neither of us served well at the beginning.’
Pouille’s quarter-final had ended after 2am and the Frenchman said he didn’t go to sleep until three hours later.
This week marks Murray’s return to the court after his fourth-round upset by Mischa Zverev in Melbourne back in January. Since then, he has also been ill with a case of shingles.
This encounter was Pouille’s first against a no 1 and his lack of big-match experience showed in the second set.
The first set was competitive, with Murray breaking Pouille’s serve in the final game, clinching it on his second set point with a backhand cross-court passing shot.
Murray raced into a 5-0 lead in the second set before Pouille held to love to claw back a game.
‘I think I was a bit too frustrated at the beginning of the second set and that cost me three or four games,’ said Pouille. ‘Then it was too late to come back.’
Earlier, Verdasco defeated unseeded robin Haase 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, closing out the match by breaking his opponent to love. Verdasco upset sixth-seeded roberto Bautista agut in the first round and no 4 Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals.
‘It’s an amazing week so far,’ said Verdasco, who is looking for the eighth title of his career.
djokovic, meanwhile, was left searching for momentum after his late entry into the aTP event in acapulco resulted in him being upset 7-6, 7-5 in the quarter-final by nick Kyrgios.
It was the first time djokovic had faced Kyrgios and the controversial australian displayed all his natural gifts in serving a remarkable 25 aces. The 21-year-old has now won his first meetings with djokovic, rafael nadal and roger Federer.
Following the match, the Serb walked out of his Press conference after 25 seconds. He said he felt ‘not great’ after the loss and, of Kyrgios, he added: ‘He has a big serve. He deserved to win. Congrats.’