Is it only about Novak and Rafa in Monte-Carlo? Forget it!
Yesterday Andy had a remarkable match with Troiki. The first set was almost an embarrasment. It lasted less than 30 minutes and Troiki managed to win only 9 points in aggregate. 36% on his 1 serve (?) and 17% on the second (!!!). Andy was toying with him.
To tell the truth, what was really striking was the strategy adopted by the Serbian that decided just to trade rallies with Murray… a complete tennis suicide. Murray looked pretty happy about that and was even strarting to play games with fancy balls, dropshots/lobs combinations etc.. Andy was a happy guy.
Then Troicki woke up (a bit) in the second set to win the opening game by attacking Murray (finally!). But eventually the striking difference between the two made the Scott winning the second set 6-3. Andy won also the hot shot of the day (video above)
‘It’s sometimes taken me two or three weeks at tournaments before I started feeling good,’ Murray said. ‘This was the first time I felt good [in the first match of a tournament.]’
‘I was sliding pretty well,’ Murray said. ‘Normally that’s the thing that takes time to get used to, but I did that well. Normally for me that’s a good sign on the clay, whether I’m playing well or not. I’ve been hitting the ball well in practice. It was just whether or not I’d be feeling comfortable with the movement. I was, so I was happy with it.’
‘The guys that have the most experience on the surface tend to do well here,’ he added. ‘A guy like Ferrer just understands exactly what he needs to do on this surface. There’s a lot of guys like him that play their best tennis here. They have a lot of experience from playing here as juniors, from growing up on it and spending more time on it on the tour. I don’t play on it that often, so it’s taken me more time to gain that experience.’
After the single, Andy palyed the double with brother Jamie against S. Gonzales and Kas. It was another 1hour stroll… The Murrays won 6-4 6-3
In the other matches Verdasco had another 3 sets victory, this time with Dodig 3-6 6-3 6-1 and Tsonga celebrated his 27th birthday beating Kohlschreiber 6-2 6-4.
