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Federer bt Murray
6-2, 7-5, 6-2
Andy Murray felt the full wrath of Federer yesterday as the world number 2 showed no mercy in his victory at the US Open, it was one of the most sensational one-sided finals I have ever seen, no discredit to Murray who just never had a chance to get into the match, Federer was simply awesome
First Set
This set started off with Federer pushing from the off-set, making his intentions clear that he is going for the line every shot. He knew this was Murray’s biggest match-up ever so he took advantage of the fact that he may be nervous. Murray was on edge and Federer won two clean serves without dropping a point.
We got to 2-1 Federer and some good serves from Murray were not good enough for Federer’s returns, as he approached the net the whole game and broke Murray early on, 3-1. Federer went on to take the next and Murray held, 4-2, Federer held again and broke Murray in another David vs Goliath game where Murray’s shot looked extremely feeble and Federer just looked so overpowering with his forehand smashes!
This match really depended on how Murray played his first set, and you really can’t say he played bad, Federer just had too much momentum.
Second Set
Federer managed to carry his momentum into the second set to break in the very first game, Murray went down 0-40 and really now way back with the mood Federer was in. However, we all know Murray isn’t the type to just sit there and get rolled over, he went straight on the offensive, and broke back! Well done to Murray and at this point it was looking good.
Federer never lifted his foot off the pedal, no matter how much Murray pushed he just kept going, and we got to 6-5 Federer in the second, and the game got to 40-40, one amazing rally and an unforced error by Murray led to a set point to Federer, another amazing rally, Murray came into the net and laid off a drop shot, Federer ran in and hit a forehand down the line and took down the second set.
Third Set
At this point it looked like an ominous victory for Federer, and he was looking to pick up his 13th title, and that’s exactly what happened, Federer won the first, broke the second, and carried on the same pattern until he got to 5-0, this really looked bad for Murray, who pushed back to win 2 games to save some pride, and Federer broke finally to win and for us to see his trademark celebration.
Overview
Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much analysing to do in the game, the reason Murray beat Nadal is that he is the best at returning serve, and Nadal’s serve is no way good enough for Murray, and at times you saw Federer was troubled in his serves against Murray because he stands so far back but comes in really quickly. But that’s about it, a few back hand winners for Murray but Federer was simply awesome, he didn’t give Murray a chance to get into any kind of rhythm.
Coin bt Ivanovic
6-3, 4-6, 6-3
A shock round 2 defeat for the women’s number 1 Ana Ivanovic, she looked very nervous in her opening match which she scraped though in 3 sets, managing to keep her cool at the death. This game though her nerves got the better of her and she gifted games away, she did show flashes of excellence however being labelled top seed you are expected to keep your cool under pressure.
Nothing taken away from Julie Coin who has never been in such a pressured situation, she really played with no fear, the first set she dominated Ivanovic and hit some powerful winners to take it 6-3, Ivanovic battled back second set getting the early break and using her experience to get the upper hand.
The final set ended up an emotional battle and one of the best sets I have seen so far this tournament, both women gave it their all and both making big unforced errors, but it was Ivanovic who really gifted the game at the end, and Coin took full advantage.
Ivanovic’s general game is brilliant, I consider her one of the best in her ability, its her mental strength that needs work on, she will most likely lose her number 1 spot at the end of the season. As for Coin, she now has nothing to lose as she has gone past expectations, we’ll see how she copes if she meets one of the Williams sisters.
Andy Murry bt Llodra
6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9-7)
A decent performance by Murray was just good enough to get past the Frenchman Michael Llodra in four sets. Murry would be the first to admit he didn’t play his best, and if he is to compete at a higher level he really needs to try and mop these type of games up easily. However, after the first set, which went quite smoothly, Llodra began outsmarting Murray as he exposed Murray’s weak and deep shots he likes to play and most of all exposed his second serve.
The second set ended in Murray being broken twice for Llodra to take the second set 6-1. Thankfully, Murray woke up from this in the third and fourth and though Llodra posed a threat, Murray held his nerve and took down both sets to move into the next round.
It was quite a fun game to watch with a baseline player vs a net player, there aren’t many net players around these days and Murray adapted well, each game he looks to be maturing and as I keep saying, just needs to sort his attitude a tiny bit more to really compete against the top 3.
Murray’s best showdown at a Grand Slam has been a quarter final at Wimbledon against Nadal, so the 21 year old will really look to better that this year and feel like he has a good chance to win.
Andy Murray lit up the tournament with his brilliant performance in the most humid conditions of the tour this year. Not dropping a set on his road to the final, the 21 year old has really shown maturity since his Wimbledon exit to Nadal. I feel if the final was against Nadal we would have seen the same result.
Murray has been under quite heavy criticism for both his on and off courts antics. He does like a moan on court which for a player of his ability, needs to be somewhat cut down to the minimum. His off court issues rose when he said he wanted any team but England to win the World Cup in 2006 and classes himself as “Scottish not British”. He later retracted these statements saying it was quite immature of him. The point is he is only 21 so you can understand a little arrogance from his point, and the fact that he is genuinely making an effort on his attitude is a positive sign for good things to come from him in the future.
The final was very classy. Djokovic for me is the best hard court player in the world. He has beaten Nadal and Federer on numerous occasion on the hard courts. That shows how good Murray’s victory was. The first set was brilliant, both players nearly identical to each other had some breathtaking rallies to watch. Murray had the edge on his serve as he dropped less points throughout the set. Djokovic’s motivation fluctuated quite a lot throughout a match which costed him dearly on some occasions. Also, he can leave himself a lot of work to do on his serves, he mentioned himself this is a large area for improvement. On came the tie-break and with Murray taking the first 4 points with some great shots down the line and a Djokovic double fault led Murray to take the set and the momentum.
He started well in the second set as did Djokovic. Murray managed a break at 4-3 to get to 5-3. The game was very well played out by both players but Murray was devastating in the rallies. The next game and Murray was serving for the championship. He managed to go down 30-40 but took the next two points to get his first ever Championship point. Great bravery from Djokovic with a drop shot as he managed to save the point to go back to Deuce. After three more championship points for Murray and there was no cigar, Djokovic broke back brilliantly defending his position and holding serve. The game after to make it 5-5, another exciting finish.
Both players held again to make it 6-6 and we got to a tie break, both started of slow but Djokovic looked more like he was throwing in the towel than Murray, but he hit a superb winner on Murray’s serve to get to 5-5, Murray quite emphatically took two points with one massive winner on Djokovic’s serve and a backhand winner down the line to take a well deserved victory.
Overall both players played excellent throughout the week, The Cincinnati Masters is truly a great tournament and the fans are very delightful, with very neutral cheering. The only factor is the temperature is ridiculously high but an overall well held tournament. To the Olympics now for Murray and then bring his form into the US Open. For a British tennis player to win a Grand Slam would be a huge stepping stone in British tennis, lets hope he can fix his attitude a bit more to become a real role model.
