TENNIS RG – Andy Murray has once again put himself in contention for another major title. Despite the clay courts of Roland Garros not being his favourite surface, one would not have figured that to be the case with his comprehensive victory over Fernando Verdasco in straight sets 6-4 7-5 7-6(3). Cordell Hackshaw
Interviews, Results, OOP, Draws from the Roland Garros
Andy Murray (7) has once again put himself in contention for another major title. Despite the clay courts of Roland Garros not being his favourite surface, one would not have figured that to be the case with his comprehensive victory over Fernando Verdasco (24) in straight sets 6-4 7-5 7-6(3). With this win, Murray has now reached an impressive 13th consecutive major quarterfinal. Having missed this tournament the last two years due to injury, Murray looked far more comfortable on the Suzanne Lenglen court than Verdasco, a known clay court specialist. There was not much to separate the two by the numbers. However, it was clear that Murray had a game plan against the Spaniard especially since he has a 9-1 record coming into this match. Verdasco on the other hand often looked lost and bewildered as he was unable to gain any real advantage over his opponent in the match.
Verdasco served to open the match with an easy service hold at love to go up 1-0. This would be just about the easiest service game he would have of the match as Murray constantly had him under pressure. Verdasco had his chances on the Murray’s serve as the players traded breaks in the early stages of the set. However, they remained on serve until the crucial 9th game when Verdasco deviated from the task of holding serve and saw Murray serving for the set at 5-4. Murray held easily to take the set 6-4. The second set was almost a repeat of the first as at the crucial moment in the set, the 11th game, Verdasco again surrendered his serve. It was as though Verdasco was unable to concentrate at these big moments in the match and Murray sensing this vulnerability, seized the opportunities to his advantage. He now led 6-4 7-5.
That magnificent form that saw Verdasco easily dismissing Gasquet in the 3rd round was not present on this day against Murray. Murray was showing his brilliance in nearly all areas of the court and was simply too good for the Spaniard. “[H]e had played I think very deep, very good shots, very good control, close to the lines…I played short, many shots. He was able to step in, and he did it pretty well.” Verdasco surmised after the match. In the 3rd set, Murray took the early lead 3-1 and had break points to go up 4-1. In that pivotal 5th game, Verdasco saved 5 break points to hold serve. It seemed as though the Spaniard was going to fight his way back into the match as he later broke Murray in the 8th game to get back on serve. This was after some high drama between the Spaniard and the chair umpire Pascal Maria who asked Verdasco to serve again when an incorrect call was made on his serve. Verdasco refused claiming that Murray did not have a play on the ball and so the call was not a hindrance. Verdasco was adamant on this point and sat down refusing to serve again as it was game point. Eventually Murray conceded the point to move things along.
The players stayed on serve from here on end and the set was going to be decided in the tiebreaker. Murray took the early lead in the breaker 3-1 but Verdasco equalized the matter at 3-3 with some monster forehands. It looked like he was about to take charge of the set but it was not to be. Verdasco became erratic on the forehand wing again and Murray was up 5-3. Showing his superior defensive and offensive skill, Murray closed out the match with a forehand smash 6-4 7-5 7-6(3) in about 3 hours. Murray had this to say about his performance, “I felt defensively I did a good job and offensively today. I was going to need to do that, because against him, you know, like I say, he has a big game, so he can make you do a lot of running and you need to try to, yeah, to combat that sometimes playing good offense and sometimes by defending properly.” Murray will play the last Frenchman in the draw, Gael Monfils (23) in the quarterfinals and mentioned this about the matchup, “I’m looking forward to the match, the quarterfinals of a slam. I don’t care whether no one in the crowd wants me to win or everyone wants me to win. I will fight just as hard to try and get the right outcome.”
