Andy Murray makes it through to the quarter finals at Wimbledon, but not without a few shaky moments.
British number one, Andy Murray, makes it through to the quarter finals at Wimbledon after beating Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 7-6, 6-1, in a tence match on centre court.
With Federer and Nadal out of the tournament, this year might be Murray's best chance of winning the tournament, but as he stated in his post match interview - if world class players such as Federer and Nadal can be knocked out of the competition, so can he. Murray had to win against Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, if he wanted to advance in to the quarter finals at the All England Club, and it was far from an easy ride.
Murray began with a shaky first game allowing his opponent to almost break his serve instantly. With second serves averaging 75mph, Murray did not seem to be showing enough force to challenge his opponent as the Scotsman won only 44% of his second serve points. His serve improved throughout the game and he managed 16 aces in comparison to Youzhny's 1. Having had a tough service game Murray came back fighting in the third game by breaking his opponent's serve and making the score 2 games to 1. Youzhny seemed to be playing similarly to Andy Murray's last opponent, the Spaniard Robredo, both are very strong players but are missing that one weapon that's needed to catch top seeds such as Murray out. With the crowd finally beginning to settle after an anxious start, the British number one closed out the first set, 6-4, having produced 7 aces and 15 winners.
Having suffered one of the biggest disappointments in his tennis career last year after losing in the final of Wimbledon, the man from Dunblane went on to have the most successful season of his life, winning his first Grand Slam in the US open and beating Roger Federer to win the Olympic gold in August 2012. These wins have reduced the pressure from the British public and as a result Murray seems to be looking much more comfortable and confident on centre court in front of his home crowd which seems to be helping his game.
It might have been a blessing that the Royal box was almost empty during Murray's game as the Royals would not have been most amused with the second set. Murray seemed to lose all his concentration, the former Wimbledon finalist lost three games in a row and was broken by Mikhail Youzhny very soon in to the set. The calmness seemed to have very quickly left the crowd and a sense of anxiety seemed to flood the court as Murray attempted to fight to regain control of the game. Murray was forced to work hard by the Russian and after successfully breaking back to level terms, Murray won the second set tie break to go up 2 sets to 0.
The third set did not begin great for Youzhny with his trainer being called on court to ease a shoulder injury. Although, this did not stop the world number 26 from challenging Murray by almost breaking the Scott's serve in his first game of the third set. However, after this initial threat the third set was incredibly one sided and Murray finished the set having won the match 6-4, 7-6, 6-1.
The score line looked impressive, and Murray has yet to drop a set in the championship, but the truth is the number one seed did not bring his A-game, he did not play his best tennis. If Murray played against Djokovic with the same quality of tennis he did yesterday then he would have been punished with no hesitation by the Serbian. There is no doubt that Murray will play better tennis in the next round but there needs to be better consistency in his game if he wishes to go all the way.
Photo: AP
With Federer and Nadal out of the tournament, this year might be Murray's best chance of winning the tournament, but as he stated in his post match interview - if world class players such as Federer and Nadal can be knocked out of the competition, so can he. Murray had to win against Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, if he wanted to advance in to the quarter finals at the All England Club, and it was far from an easy ride.
Murray began with a shaky first game allowing his opponent to almost break his serve instantly. With second serves averaging 75mph, Murray did not seem to be showing enough force to challenge his opponent as the Scotsman won only 44% of his second serve points. His serve improved throughout the game and he managed 16 aces in comparison to Youzhny's 1. Having had a tough service game Murray came back fighting in the third game by breaking his opponent's serve and making the score 2 games to 1. Youzhny seemed to be playing similarly to Andy Murray's last opponent, the Spaniard Robredo, both are very strong players but are missing that one weapon that's needed to catch top seeds such as Murray out. With the crowd finally beginning to settle after an anxious start, the British number one closed out the first set, 6-4, having produced 7 aces and 15 winners.
Having suffered one of the biggest disappointments in his tennis career last year after losing in the final of Wimbledon, the man from Dunblane went on to have the most successful season of his life, winning his first Grand Slam in the US open and beating Roger Federer to win the Olympic gold in August 2012. These wins have reduced the pressure from the British public and as a result Murray seems to be looking much more comfortable and confident on centre court in front of his home crowd which seems to be helping his game.
It might have been a blessing that the Royal box was almost empty during Murray's game as the Royals would not have been most amused with the second set. Murray seemed to lose all his concentration, the former Wimbledon finalist lost three games in a row and was broken by Mikhail Youzhny very soon in to the set. The calmness seemed to have very quickly left the crowd and a sense of anxiety seemed to flood the court as Murray attempted to fight to regain control of the game. Murray was forced to work hard by the Russian and after successfully breaking back to level terms, Murray won the second set tie break to go up 2 sets to 0.
The third set did not begin great for Youzhny with his trainer being called on court to ease a shoulder injury. Although, this did not stop the world number 26 from challenging Murray by almost breaking the Scott's serve in his first game of the third set. However, after this initial threat the third set was incredibly one sided and Murray finished the set having won the match 6-4, 7-6, 6-1.
The score line looked impressive, and Murray has yet to drop a set in the championship, but the truth is the number one seed did not bring his A-game, he did not play his best tennis. If Murray played against Djokovic with the same quality of tennis he did yesterday then he would have been punished with no hesitation by the Serbian. There is no doubt that Murray will play better tennis in the next round but there needs to be better consistency in his game if he wishes to go all the way.
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