Murray guns Rafa down

The four best players in the world of tennis met in Toronto on Saturday to battle for berths in the finals of the Rogers Cup. In both matches the underdogs gained victory.

Scotsman Andy Murray earned the first spot in the finals with a convincing and surprisingly focused attack against world number one Rafa Nadal. The match marked Rafa’s return to competition following his win at Wimbledon, where he toppled Murray in the semifinals. For Murray the finals will be his third of the season. The Scot, the defending champion of the Rogers Cup, has yet to win a tournament this year.

Murray’s win had to be one of his most gratifying in his career. Of late, his efforts seemed inconsistent and even lackluster. The 23-year old’s record this season is a modest 25-11.

Murray possesses one of the game’s best returns of service, has a good if not overpowering serve and the quickest feet in the game. In Saturday’s meeting with Nadal, the Scot had everything working. Buoyed by a crushing win over Argentina’s David Nalbandian on Friday, Andy brought the same aggressive style to Centre Court on Saturday.

Murray resisted two service break points in the seventh game to take the 4-3 lead in the first set. In the next game game, he came back from 30-0 to claim the first break of the match and go up 5-3. Murray then fired three aces and a dazzling forehand to claim the set.

Murray continued to apply early pressure on the Spaniard in the second set. He was comfortable with his return and confident in his superior baseline play. The winner fashioned a break in the third game only to have the Spaniard come right back with his first break of the match.

Murray’s return assault continued as he took the offensive on just about every serve from Nadal. The Scot got his second break of the set at 4-4 and promptly served out the match.

In the first set, Murray won 13 of his 15 first serves. He also fired 8 aces in the set. For the match, Nadal was only able to hit 11 outright winners as Murray showed tremendous foot speed. Nadal had an uncharacteristically high 23 unforced errors in the match.

The win was an important one for Murray. This season he has lost matches he should have won and his concentration often seemed to be lacking. When the Andy Murray that showed up for the semifinals in Toronto is across the net, he is a serious threat to go all the way.

Roger Federer at Rogers Cup

In a match with a tense subplot, third ranked Roger Federer quieted Serbia’s second ranked Novak Djokovic 6-1, 3-6, 7-5. The first set took just 28 minutes as Djokovic could not pull his game together. Djokovic’s play was painful to watch as he struck just 2 winners and fired countless shots long, wide and into the net.

The Serb seemed confused by Federer’s new aggressive style. The Swiss mixed every shot n the book into a highly efficient first set in which he came to the net, attacked the serve and stung backhands to every corner of the court. Federer did not let Djokovic up for air, moving his serve from outside to inside and moving quickly from the baseline to the net.

In a match where Djokovic needed solid serving, he showed inconsistent accuracy. Trailing 0-2, 0-30 in the second set, the tables began to turn for Novak. He decided to take a riskier line and soon he was scoring with steeply angled crosscourt winners and down-the-line zingers that Federer could not chase down. After failing to hold in the first game of the second set, Djokovic scored breaks in the fourth and sixth games to win the set.

In the third set, the crowd, which had backed Djokovic in the second set switched allegiances. At 5-5, The Serb had three break point chances at 0-40. He failed to convert on any and then made matters worse by playing a sloppy game featuring five unforced errors to hand Roger the match and the number two world ranking along with it.

Related Articles

Nadal – Murray, Djokovic – Federer in Semifinals

Djokovic, Tsonga Out, Murray, Roddick In

Rafa Outplays Brave Murray