MURRAY CLAIMS MADRID MASTERS

 

 

Coming off the back of reaching the US Open final and a Davis Cup tie, it was time for Andy Murray to do another Masters tournament. With one Masters trophy under his belt already from Cinncinatti, everyone was now taking the British number 1 and world number 4 a lot more seriously, some tipping him for one of the '09 Grand Slams. The '08 season's not quite over yet though and the Madrid Masters was a chance for him to make a degree of history. The Masters series started up in 1990. Since then, no Brit has managed to win two Masters tournaments during their career. Andy was looking to win two Masters tournaments in a row, cementing his place in the world's elite.

Andy was allowed to bypass the first round and was drawn to face the winner of a match between Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and Italian Simone Bollelli. Surprisingly it was the Italian that won that match 7-6(7-4) 6-1 despite having to pre-qualify for the main event. That left Murray facing Bollelli and it was here that the world numbver 43 got a pretty serious reality check. He offered no competition whatsoever in the first set , it seemed that Andy just had to walk on court. In the second set Bollelli at least managed to hold his serve. His fitness proved to be another matter entirely though and Murray was leading 6-0 2-1 before the Italian white flagged.

In the third round came the Croatian Marin Cilic. This turned out to be a big step up from Andy who was broken early on and forced against the wall in the first set before coming up with a four game turnaround to actually go a set up. Neither player gave an inch in the second set though and that forced a tiebreak, however Andy managed to cruise that to come up with a 7-5 7-6(7-2) win. Despite being a straight sets win it was certainly messy. However it was Andy's second Masters quarter final in a row and the first time he'd made it to the quarter finals in Madrid, matching Tim Henman's record at the tournament, who made it to the quarter finals in 2001!

Next on the hitlist was Frenchman Gael Monfils in the quarter finals. Again Andy was broken early on but broke back immediately and after that, there was only one guy in the first set. The second set followed a similar pattern, Monfils unable to do much on the Murray serve allowing the Scot to win 6-2 6-2. That match was no competition whatsoever, and just shows how far Andy has come this year. That's now his third Masters semi final in a row and his first Masters semi in Europe, traditionally having found form in the US. He's also the first Brit to have ever made the semis in Madrid and on this sort of form, it would need a pretty significant roadblock to stop him.

Roger Federer looked like a pretty serious roadblack, and Andy found him in the semis. Sure enough, the US Open champion broke the Murray serve and though Andy gave him a fight, it was the Swiss legend who took the first set. It was Andy who broke serve in the second set though and Federer wasn't able to respond with Andy reaching top form to level the match. That of course forced a third set and never player wanted to give an inch. Just as it looked as though the set was heading to a tiebreak though, Andy found a way to break the Federer serve and won the match 3-6 6-3 7-5. His second Masters final in a row and currently looking unstoppable.

Andy's surprise opponentr in the final, Frenchman Giles Simon, didn't look like he'd be much of a threat. Except that he did give the Scot a pretty good fight in the first set, even if Murray did go on to claim it. The second set turned out to be even tighter though with neither player able to break serve, forcing a tiebreak and even that turned out to be a marathon. Murray was the last man standing though, winning 6-4 7-6(8-6) to become the first Brit ever to win two Masters tournaments since this level of tennis began let alone back to back! Surely the best British tennis player in my lifetime and he's still the right side of 25! There is no one in the world he cannot beat!

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