MURRAY RULES MIAMI
The Miami Open. Originally intended as the first ATP tournament of the year in 1985(and originally dubbed the "Winter Wimbledon") it's now one of the Masters events held in the US. No Brit had ever made it to the final of this tournament before this year, the last time a Brit made the semis was Andy Murray in '07. Murray was back again this time around, having won a tournament in Rotterdam after competiting in the Australian Open he then got hit by injury, ruling him out of Davis Cup action. Since then, he'd reached his first Masters final of the year at Indian Wells and was 4th seed in Miami, his last tournament before heading back to Europe and the final run in to the French Open.
Well in the first round Andy had been given a bye but he was scheduled to face the winner of a match between Argentine Juan Monaco and Frenchman Marc Gicquel. Well Monaco was able to just cruise through the first set. Gicquel put up more of a fight in the second set but the Argentine still took the honours to the tune of 6-0 6-4. All Andy cared about is that without even hitting a ball he'd been able to match his '08 record of reaching the second round here. In the women's event Anne Keothavong was in action in the first round but lost to the Czech Luic Safaova 6-4 7-5. That left Andy as the only Brit left in the tournament, which is a sympton of our lack of strength in depth.
Andy's next order of business of course was Monaco in the the second round. Credit to the Argie, he gave Andy some serious trouble early on and the British number 1 was forced to concede the opening set. He soon had his back against the wall in the second set as well before finally finding his A game and taking the second set, forcing a third. The third set wasn't that straightforward either, with Monaco still able to break serve but Andy still held on to collect a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win. A messy win from Andy but still ultimately a win and it put him in the third round of this tournament for the first time since '07. Surely harder opponents were to come though.
In the third round Andy faced Chille's Nicolas Massau. Massau actually broke the Murray serve at the first time of asking, going 3-0 up before Andy pulled himself back from the brink to take the first set. The second set looked to be a lot more straightforward for the Brit only for Massau to be allowed a comeback attempt. It didn't quite come off though and Andy won 6-4 6-4. That result allowed Andy to maintain his 100% record of reaching the fourth round in major tournaments this year(Grand Slams and Masters), three out of three. Neither opponent so far had made it particularly easy for him though so there was no reason to count any more chickens just yet.
In the fourth round, Andy found himself against the Serbian Victor Troiki. This turned out to be one of the Brit's easier matches, Andy going 5-0 up on the way to claiming the first set with ease. The second set proved to be even easier and Andy cruised through to win 6-1 6-0. That result would have gotten people's attention, particularly as it meant that Andy had reached a Masters quarter final for the second tournament in a row. Now things were going to get really tought. His fellow quarter finalists had all-too-familiar names. Yes, Andy is capable of beating anyone nowadays but still, all bets were off. He couldn't afford any off days.
In the quarter finals Andy faced Fernando Verdasco and that meant getting payback for his Australian Open exit. Payback looked to be swift with the world number 4 going 4-0 up on his way to collecting the first set. It helped that the Spaniard was carrying an injury but still Andy's 6-1 6-2 win suggests that that bogeyman has been overcome. That win garunteed that Andy would match his semi final result from '07 and that he was certainly back on full form. There was now talk about him reaching number 3 in the world for the first time but that depended on results elsewhere. As awesome as that would be, Andy would have to get the semi out of the way first.
In the semi finals, Andy faced Juan Martin del Potro. The Argie was known for providing tough opposition to the big names but got outclassed in the first set with Andy going 5-0 up on the way to claiming it. del Potro did get his game on in the second set which proved to be a marathon affair, breaking the Murray serve at the first time of asking and ultimately having the last laugh, winning the second set and forcing a third. The third set also proved to be a tough affair early on but del Potro did break and Andy collected a 6-1 5-7 6-2 win. That made him the first Brit to reach the final of this tournament in this tournament's 25th year, now what?
Well in the final he found himself up against Novak Djokovic, in a rematch of his first Masters final win at the '08 Cincinnatti tournament. Surprisingly, Andy had a fairly straightforward first set against his Serbian riva, leaving him just one set away from glory. That second set proved to be a lot tougher though with Andy broken early on and seemingly on the brink of a third set before a five game run gave Andy a 6-2 7-5 win! That wrapped up Andy's first Masters tournament of the year and the first time he's won in Miami! There's the possibility that that may be it in terms of good news for a while though, clay courts aren't usually friendly towards British players.
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