TENNIS MUBADALA – Andy Murray battled past Feliciano Lopez in three tough sets with 7-6 (7-1) 5-7 6-4 in two and a half hours in the opening match of the Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi, the build-up exhibition to the 2015 Australian Open which starts on 19th . In the second match Stan Wawrinka cruised past Nicholas Almagro in straight sets with 6-3 6-2. Diego Sampaolo
Andy Murray overcame a tough match against Feliciano Lopez on his fifth match point in a spectacular clash which featured a lot of spectacular shots. Murray showed good early-season form. He broke serve in the fourth game of the opening set to take a 3-1 lead with a cross-court backhand return on Lopez’s serve. The Spanish player broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. The next five games went on serve. Murray took the 6-5 lead. Lopez won the 12th game on serve forcing the first set to the tie-break where Murray won easily with 7-1.
The second set went on serve with Lopez taking a 4-3 lead. Murray won the 10th game to draw level to 5-5 before Lopez won the next two games to win the second set with 7-5 to force the match to the decider. Murray fought back getting a break in the opening game of the third set. Lopez broke straight back before winning the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Murray bounced back taking the 5-4 lead after Lopez failed to convert two break point chances
Murray set up a semifinal against Rafael Nadal who will make his come-back tomorrow after a difficult 2014 season. The Dunblane star beat Nadal in the final of the first edition of the Mubadala exhibition tournament in 2009.
“It was a tough match. Lopez had break points and I had a lot of match points. I am happy to just get through. I have played the Mubadala World Tennis Championships a number of times amd I have always found it a good preparation. You always get a good crowd here. It’s a great way to start the year to try and play some matches against the best players in the world and it gets you very sharp for the beginning of the year”, said Murray.
In the other semifinal Stan Wawrinka will play against Mubadala defending champion Novak Djokovic in a re-match of last year’s Australian Open epic quarter final and of the round robin match of the 2014 ATP Finals dominated by Djokovic. The 2014 Australian Open champion bounced back after Almagro got a break in the third game of the opening set before dominating the match. Wawrinka converted his first match point after one hour after one hour. Next week Wawrinka will defend his title at the ATP 250 in Chennai (India).
