ONE FINAL EFFORT
Marathon man Murray faces winner takes-all clash with nemesis Djokovic
ANDY MURRAY will today put his body on the line one final time this year as he bids to end the season of his dreams in style against Novak Djokovic.
The Scot fought with gritted teeth and weary limbs to see off spirited Canadian Milos Raonic to reach his first final at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, where he will now face his Serbian rival not only for the season-finale spoils but also for the right to end the year as world No 1.
Four days after he took three hours and 20 minutes to defeat Kei Nishikori, Murray was on court for 18 minutes longer in a 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (11-9) victory over the fourth seed Raonic — breaking the tournament record for longest match for the second time.
Murray cut a fatigued figure throughout and the question must now be how much energy he will have left for today’s final against Djokovic, who swatted aside Nishikori 6-1, 6-1 in little more than an hour last night.
The Scot has at least set a personal record of 23 straight victories, one better than his summer streak, but only a 24th will bring the golden end his remarkable season deserves.
He said: ‘I don’t know how I’ll feel tomorrow. Obviously I’m tired just now because it was a really hard match. It wasn’t just that it was physically hard, it was mentally a tough match, too. It was pretty stressful.
‘Obviously tomorrow is the last day for a while. I’ll just give my best and hopefully it’s enough.’
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 ablistering 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 volley 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 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