MURRAY BEATS BERDYCH

Andy Murray has been defeated by Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the quarter final round of the ongoing Cincinnati Masters. Berdych won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-4.

Murray has to start the defense of his US Open title in a few days’ time and this was not the result that he was looking for here at Cincinnati.

The Scot was inconsistent throughout the match. He gave his opponent a lot of opportunities and ended up suffering a shocking defeat.

In the post match interview, Murray said, “I committed a lot of mistakes. You can’t do that against a quality opponent.”

“The surface was tough. There was a bit of bounce in it and I was struggling for timing.”

Berdych who secured his first win over Murray on hard courts was looking ecstatic. The Czech player said, “You can’t let a player like Andy settle down. You need to be aggressive against him and that’s what I did.”

Murray had the chance to break Berdych’s serve in the very first game of the first set, but, he couldn’t take advantage of the break point and the Czech ended up serving out the game.

Murray held his serve in style in the next game by banging in 4 aces. The next 5 games also went with the serve and when the 7^th game finished, Berdych had a lead of 4-3.

The Czech player sneaked a breakthrough in the 8^th game and then, won his next service game to wrap up the set.

In the second set, Murray had a terrible start as he lost his serve in the second game to get trailed by 0-2. He never recovered from there as Berdych held his remaining serves to seal the match.

ROBSON MISSES OUT

Andy Murray’s countrywoman, Laura Robson, has been defeated by Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the opening round of the French Open. Wozniacki won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-2.

Wozniacki was in poor form coming into this tournament. She had been defeated in her last 5 matches and she was not expected to be this clinical against Robson. But, the Danish player looked calm and steady throughout the match and got better of her opponent in just 71 minutes.

Robson tried to be over aggressive at times and in order to do that, she committed a lot of unforced errors. She also served double faults at crucial stages of the match.

Robson had the opportunity to start the match with a breakthrough as she got a breakpoint in the very first game, but, she failed in cashing on that and Wozniacki managed to hold her serve.

The next 2 games went with the serve and the score was 2-1 in the favour of Wozniacki when the 3^rd game got over.

Wozniacki increased her lead by breaking Robson’s serve in the 4^th game, but, the British player broke back immediately to make the score 3-2.

Robson continued making mistakes on her serve and served a couple of double faults in the 6^th game to be broken for the second time in the set.

This time, Wozniacki consolidated the breakthrough and held her serve in the 7^th game to get ahead by 5-2.

Robson served out the 8^th game to bring Wozniacki’s lead down to 5-3, but, she couldn’t break the serve of the Danish player in the 9^th game and lost the opener by 3-6.

There were no breakthroughs in the first two games of the second set and the scores were levelled at 1-1. Wozniacki got a couple of consecutive breakthroughs after that and took a lead of 4-1.

Robson broke back in the 6^th game to make the score 4-2, but, she served poorly again in the next game and gifted Wozniacki a breakthrough to get trailed by 2-5.

Wozniacki held her serve in the 8^th game and secured her win.

MURRAY LOSES OUT

Andy Murray has been defeated by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the third round of the Monte Carlo masters. Wawrinka won the match in the straight sets by 6-1, 6-2. This win took Wawrinka into the quarter finals.

This result was not expected at all. Murray and Wawrinka had played against each other 12 times before and Murray had won 8 out of those matches. Also, Murray’s form off late had been quite good. He had recently won the Sony Open and had secured a pretty easy victory in the second round match against Edouard Roger-Vasselin. He was the favourite to win against Wawrinka, that’s for sure.

But, Wawrinka played some aggressive tennis and Murray didn’t even manage to give him a good fight.

Now, this defeat will affect Murray’s world ranking. He had replaced Roger Federer as the no. 2 player in the world by defeating David Ferrer in the title round of the Sony Open, but, he couldn’t stay at that position even for a month. He will again slip down to no. 3.

In the post match interview, Murray said, “You can’t win a match after committing so many unforced errors. I gave him a lot of opportunities and he cashed on those.”

“I had practiced hard before this tournament. So, it’s really disappointing to be out of it this early.”

In the opening set, both the players won their first service games. After that, it was all Wawrinka. With three successive breakthroughs in the 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th game, he won the set easily by 6-1.

Murray’s poor performance on his serve continued in the second set as well as he dropped his serve in the 6^th and the 8^th game and lost the set by 2-6.

In the quarter final round, Wawrinka will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

MURRAY LOSES OUT

Andy Murray has been defeated by Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the quarter final of the BNP Paribas Open. Del Potro won the match by 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-1.

It was a brilliant performance by Del Potro against the no. 3 player in the world. His serve was not broken even once in the entire match.

This was the 7^th clash between these two men. Before this match, Del Potro had defeated Murray only once.

Talking to the reporters after the match, Murray said, “Juan was in great nick today. He did everything right. All credit goes to him.”

“There are certain days when a player can do no wrong. It was that kind of a day for Juan. For me, it was exactly opposite. I made a whole lot of mistakes and ended up getting knocked out. It’s really not a good feeling.”

“The conditions were very hard to play tennis. The temperatures were very high and I really got a bit tired towards the end. That’s why; I played quite a few mistimed shots in the third set.”

“When you play against top players, you get to know about your weaknesses and the same happened with me today. There are a few things which I need to improve and I will be working hard on those things before the Sony Open.”

In this tournament, Murray had a great chance to go ahead of Roger Federer in the world rankings and become the no. 2 player in the world. For that, he had to make it to the finals which he didn’t manage to do.

However, Murray will have another chance in the Sony Open as Federer will not be there. The British superstar would not like to miss that opportunity of moving up in the world rankings.

MURRAY CLOSES IN ON SECOND

Andy Murray is very close to replacing Roger Federer as the no. 2 male tennis player in the world. Murray is currently at no. 3 in the official rankings of WTA, but, if he manages to win the ongoing BNP Paribas Open, he will become the no. 2 player.

Becoming no. 2 will help Murray in the next couple of grand slams as he will get slightly easier draw. Read more »

MURRAY BEATS HASSE

Andy Murray has defeated Robin Hasse of Netherlands in the first round of the Australian Open 2013. Murray won the match easily in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-1, 6-1. It was a flawless performance by the Olympic gold medallist.

This was the third match between these two players. Out of the last two matches, both the players had won one each.

Murray came into the match with all guns blazing. He looked in terrific touch and won five out of the first six games in the opening set with the help of two breakthroughs.

Hasse held his service in the 7^th game and then, broke Murray’s service in the next game to reduce the lead to 3-5, but, that was not sufficient to make up for the damage which was done by Murray in the earlier parts of the set. The Scot got another breakthrough in the ninth game and wrapped up the set in style.

In the second set, the first couple of games went with the serve, but, after that, it was all about Murray. He didn’t let Hasse win any more game in the second set. The British superstar sealed the second set by winning the last five games on the trot.

Murray started well in the third and final set as well. He got a couple of breakthroughs to take a lead of 4-1. Although, he dropped his serve in the sixth game but, that was not going to make any difference. He latched on another break point that he got in the ninth game and finished off the match by winning the final set by 6-3.

In the next round, Murray will take on Joao Sousa of Portugal who made his way into the second round with the help of an easy victory over the local boy John-Patrick Smith.