Andy Murray

Murray went on to win in an hour and eight minutes to become the first British champion at Queen’s since Bunny Austin in 1938. Perhaps more significantly, the top seed in the event has made a statement of intent ahead of Wimbledon, which begins on 22 June. The Scot, who enjoyed his best clay-court season of his career prior to the grass court tournament, made the surface transition with ease as he bids for that elusive first Grand Slam win. The 22-year old did not drop a single set en route to winning the tournament, while only dropping serve twice throughout the week-long event.

Despite Murray’s dominant form, defending champion Rafael Nadal and five-time winner Roger Federer stand in his way at SW19 and the Scot refuses to get drawn in by hype surrounding his chances of lifting the Wimbledon title this year. “I’m a long way from winning Wimbledon,” said Murray. I feel confident but I try not to get too far ahead of myself before I’ve played my first match there. “If I play my best like I have this week I’ve got a chance, but two of the greatest players of all time are going to be there and it will be tough to get past them.”

Murray continued to serve solidly against Blake, who hit plenty of his trademark groundstrokes but his efforts were undone by a series of costly errors. It appeared Murray had got the measure of his opponent early on, breaking him in just the third game. However, Blake broke back immediately and came close to snatching the first set at 5-4 when Murray double-faulted to trail 15-30. A superb drop shot got Murray back in control to take the game and he broke the American again in the following game before holding serve to take the opening set 7-5.

Perhaps because of his English origins, Blake got plenty of support from the crowd after a series of calls went against him. The American, who has an English mothers, matched Murray in the opening 6 games of the second set as each game went with serve. But at 3-3, a wonderful cross-court winner from Murray effectively swung the set in the Scot’s favour as he upped his game to finish off Blake. The trophy was Murray’s fourth tour title of 2009 and sets the 22-year-old up nicely for his assault on the Wimbledon crown. Some bookmakers, such as William Hill have moved to make him second favourite as the injured champion Rafael Nadal awaits confirmation of his involvement and odds of around 5/2 for the Scot looks a decent punt.

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Andy Murray

The 22-year-old became the first British finalist in the tournament since Tim
Henman seven years ago and faces James Blake in the final tomorrow after Blake’s compatriot Andy Roddick was forced out through injury. Roddick suffered a sprained ankle at the end of the third game and continued for a further 5 games before retiring. The American, perhaps as a precaution for his Wimbledon hopes, pulled out during the first set with the score tied at 4-4.

Murray, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament, was quickly into his stride against Ferrero and broke the Spaniard’s serve in the opening game of the first set. It was the perfect start for the Scot, who quickly increased the lead by holding his serve easily in the second game.

Clay specialist Ferrero, ranked 90th in the world, struggled to cope with Murray’s returns but held serve when the tournament top seed found the net. But Murray made it 3-1 with a superb drop shot and the world number 3 broke Ferrero’s serve again in the fifth game. It was a one-sided semi-final with Murray’s class all too evident. The Briton easily held his serve once more to make it 5-1 after just 21 minutes of play.

Ferrero managed to reduce the deficit to 5-2 with some superb cross-court volleys but it was only a temporary respite. After double-faulted for the first time in the game, Murray soon made it 15-all and an over-hit return gave the Scot a great opportunity to take the first set 6-2. Ferrero almost lost the opening game of the second set on his serve but fought back from love-40 to lead 1-0, showing signs of his ability to stage an unlikely comeback.

It was Murray’s turn to wobble and a breathtaking rally ended with Ferrero making it love-30 thanks to a wonderfully executed back-hand drive. But Murray was soon in front with two successive aces and went on to make it 1-1. The Scot then missed an opportunity to break Ferrero’s serve in the third game and struggled to make it 2-2 as the Spaniard finally came to life.

Ferrero was playing his best tennis of the semi-final and Murray found it difficult to break the his serve at this point. However, the breakthrough for Murray finally arrived in the seventh game when Ferrero’s over-hit return gave the Scot a break of serve and a 4-3 lead. Murray reaffirmed his control over the take by holding his serve in the next game to take a 5-3 lead in the second set and a step closer to the final.

Ferrero kept himself in with a chance of saving the set when he held serve to make it 5-4 but Murray finished him off in the next game to win the match 6-2 6-4. The Scot has no preference as to who he meets in the final but Roddick, gunning for a fifth title at Queen’s is favourite to make it. “I’ve played Andy Roddick quite a few times and he’s got a great record here. I won’t pick one or the other but it will be a tough match whoever I play,” said Murray.

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Andy Roddick

“A member of the public reported a bomb threat message found pinned to a wall just before the third match on Centre Court began. A full and immediate threat assessment was made and there was no intelligence to support the reported threat,” Queen’s Club chief executive Andrew Stewart said in the statement. “The area of the stadium where the reported threat related to did not exist and the threat was deemed to be low risk.”

Both players stayed on court during the hold up and were seen laughing and chatting with each other across the net. “Play was delayed which the practiced routine search of the entire site was conducted and nothing was found,” Stewart added. Roddick and Hewitt have won the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event eight times between them, with Rafael Nadal‘s victory last year the first time neither player had lifted the trophy this decade.

But Hewitt’s bid for a record fifth success in west London is over for another year after Roddick edged through to the quarter-finals where he will face Ivo Karlovic, whom he beat in the 2005 final. Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, held a 6-4 advantage in the 10 previous meetings with Roddick, but they had only played once on grass, and ominously that Queen’s semi-final clash had been won by Roddick.

After the delayed start, both players looked on good form during a tight first set. Neither could manage a break of serve and it went to a tie-break. Roddick, the second seed, edged ahead in the breaker and punched home his advantage with a blistering return of serve to open up a 5-2 lead before serving out the set. The second set was more of the same, with Hewitt able to hold his own serve easily enough but never threatening to do any damage on Roddick’s serve.

Again it went to a tie-break and Hewitt’s nerve cracked at the crucial moment when he netted an easy volley to give Roddick the mini-break and he followed with two aces to seal victory. Roddick will have to find a way to out-gun Ivo Karlovic next after the big-serving Croat ninth seed beat France’s Nicolas Mahut, the 2007′s Queen’s runner-up, 6-3, 6-4. “Lleyton’s had just as much success here as me and he knows how to play on grass,” Roddick said. “He keeps the ball low and makes it tough to get a clean hit.

“It was tough with the wind but I feel pretty good, I’ve been hitting the ball real well in practice and I just had to hold my service games.”

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Murray took the opening set 6-4 against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez as his bid to reach the last eight of the AEGON Championship for the second successive year got off to the right start. Garcia-Lopez held serve to win the opening game but the Spaniard was not able to build on his good start as a powerful Murray won the second game without conceding a point. A stunning backhand from the Spaniard left Murray flatfooted and Garcia-Lopez went on to hold his serve once more. Murray’s serve was proving problematical to the Spaniard and at 136 mph, the Scot was on top as he quickly restored parity at 2-2. There was an anxious moment for the Spaniard when he slipped and fell awkwardly but he produced a fine forehand over the net to make it 15-all in the fifth game and went on to hold serve again.

Murray survived some worrying moments in the sixth game to level the scores at 3-3 but the Briton was clearly struggling to overcome the Spaniard who held serve again to go 4-3 in front. The tournament number one seed made it 4-4 and then two unforced errors handed Murray the chance to break the Spaniard’s serve for the first time. Although Garcia-Lopez managed to fight back and take the game to deuce, an over-hit return gave Murray the break he needed. A return into the net gave Murray set point and a fabulous cross-court forehand ensured he secured the first set 6-4.

With the momentum swinging his way, Murray upped his tempo and broke again in the fifth game of the second set to take a 3-2 lead. That was all the encouragement Murray needed and the Scot held serve three times to close out the match. “He started well and served well but once I got the break-through at the end of the first set I felt more comfortable and started to go for my shots,” Murray said after the match.

“I’ve felt good the first two matches and I’ll try to do the same against Mardy because he plays well on grass. “I expect a lot of myself and put a lot of pressure on myself and I’ll try to live up to those expectations in the next few weeks.” Fish, the American eighth seed, booked his place against Murray with a 6-1, 6-4 success against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.

Elsewhere, sixth seed James Blake is also through to the quarter-finals after beating American compatriot Sam Querrey 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Blake will play Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny or French third seed Gilles Simon. Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero also moved into the last eight with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Belgian qualifier Xavier Malisse. Ferrero takes on Steve Darcis after the Belgian was handed a walk-over following Gael Monfils’s withdrawal with a wrist injury on Wednesday.

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The former champion of the biggest tournament in tennis has seen the consistency of his performances and his world ranking slip in recent times to a level that does not justify what a servant to the game he has been.

Hewitt has been a big figure at the Queens Club in recent years and treats the tournament there as a fitting warm up for a huge grand slam. He will be hoping to counter all of the power that Roddick displays in order to prove that he can still perform against the best players in the game.

Hewitt said: “It’s a good test a week or so before a big major like Wimbledon. Roddick is always going to be one of the favorites after (Rafael) Nadal and (Roger) Federer on grass at Wimbledon. He’s made a couple of finals there in the past and lost to Roger, so yeah, we both got good records here at Queen’s. Hopefully it’s a good match.”

“It’s just a good challenge against one of the best grass court players in the world. He’s obviously got a big weapon with his serve. He’s got a big forehand and he moves well for his size. Just playing grass court tennis against a guy like that is going to be a big step up from my first two matches here.”

A growing number of off court commitments have prevented Hewitt from fulfilling many of the ambitions that he would have liked to in his relatively long career. Great moments in life such as becoming a father have been put down as the reasons as to why he has not won many more grand slams.

These are normal personal moments that we all go through and no one blames Hewitt for taking the time out that he has. He wouldn’t change a thing and would not trade in any moment of joy he has experienced with his partner or children for any amount of grand slam titles.

However, anyone in the game will tell you that there is not a nicer person on the circuit and despite his origin and the role Austrralians are going to play in England this summer, many people will be cheering him on.

He may juyst want to prove to himself that he is still physically and mentally up to competing against someone who has been described as the most powerful player to have ever picked up a tennis racket. Roddick may just over power Hewitt but he can counter this with endless guts and enthusiasm.

It will be a fitting little occasion and the match is likely to explode with fantastic shots, volleys and serves and it should get the mouths watering before the big one starts at the end of June.

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