Just like old times!
Three matches into his tennis comeback and Andy’s already in a final!
WHILE Andy Murray was rightly delighted last night to make the final of his first tournament back, he owed a huge debt of gratitude to the Herculean efforts of partner Feliciano Lopez. The 37-year-old Spaniard played virtually uninterrupted for nearly five hours yesterday, reeling off a singles semi-final win and then two doubles victories at the Fever-Tree Championships.
In cricketing parlance, it was almost like he had carried his bat after he and the 32-year-old Scot completed a 7-5, 6-7, 10-7 win over John Peers and Henri Kontinen in rapidly fading light.
Having dispatched the FinnishAustralian duo they will now meet Rajeev Ram and another Brit, Joe Salisbury, in this afternoon’s final.
By then Lopez will have tackled Frenchman Gilles Simon in the singles decider.
With his steady improvement and impressive movement, no wonder Murray is in demand for Wimbledon among potential mixed doubles partners.
It sounds unlikely that one of these will be Maria Sharapova, despite her approaches via social media. Asked
whether her past suspension for Meldonium use and his comments about the whole matter would make a difference, he replied: ‘Possibly. I said what I felt and I still feel the same way.’
He was full of praise for his partner Lopez: ‘He did brilliantly with the way he carried himself at the end, he was getting pumped. It was cool for me to see that, he has been on the tour for 20 years.’
Murray continues to give himself a clean bill of health: ‘There’s no pain in my hip, it’s just my back is a bit stiff but that’s because of the low balls and all the bending over, which I’m not used to.
‘I didn’t know what to expect here and we had a tough draw as well. Things have got better with every match. My returns were what I was most happy with.’
Perhaps his only serious blemish was having his serve broken when attempting to close out the match at 6-5 in the second set against one of the top specialist doubles teams.
Having beaten the outstanding Canadian teenager Felix Auger Aliassime 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the singles semi-final, Lopez took a five-minute break for a quick change before the resumption of the doubles quarterfinal against Britain’s Ken Skupski and Dan Evans.
Picking up from overnight at 6-4, 4-5, Lopez and Murray took only 14 minutes to complete a 6-4, 7-6 victory. Keen to stay warmed up, Lopez then elected to remain on the court while his third opponents of the day descended the steps of the pavilion to meet them.
Murray has been learning this week what life is like as a doubles player, being kept waiting and shunted around the schedule with the singles code taking priority.
Whether this will have enhanced his view of doubles as a long-term career option must be open to question.
He again looked sharp in completing the quarter-final, although he was fortunate that by this point the Spaniard was seeing it like a football. He held serve when taking it into a tiebreak they won 7-3.
Their subsequent semi-final win meant that every year at Queen’s since 2013 there has been one Murray or other in the singles or doubles final.
It is all about getting matches for the 32-year-old Scot who, after this, will head to the Nature Valley International at Eastbourne. There he will play with
Brazilian Marcelo Melo against top-seeded Colombians Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal, who Murray beat here.
When Auger-Aliassime took the first set on a tiebreak in the singles semi, it looked like he might emulate Boris Becker in becoming a teenager to win the prestigious pre-Wimbledon title. But he dropped serve for the first time in the tournament at the start of the second.
With Jose Mourinho sitting in his courtside box, that was all the invitation Lopez needed and he started to carve his way through the young Canadian, who began to flag.
Earlier, Simon was at his most belligerent as he overcame Daniil Medvedev, the Russian No 4 seed 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Lopez could become the first wildcard to win this event since Pete Sampras in 1999. With doubles to the fore thanks to the presence of Murray it has been easy to overlook another excellent tournament for Salisbury.
Alongside Ram, he edged out Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6, 7-6 to make a third ATP final at this level. Salisbury is the 27-year-old world No24 in doubles and grew up just across the river in Putney, going to school in Wimbledon.
‘I came a few times when I was younger,’ he said, ‘and sometimes played a few club matches here. But this is the first time playing the tournament.
‘It’s obviously been an amazing event with Andy coming back here and it’s great to see him back and great for the sport and especially for doubles, having him in the tournament.’