Being at the top is a tough job. Andy Murray had to battle for 3 hours and 20 minutes before downing Kei Nishikori in a passionate 3-setter.
Things got tricky after Murray failed to win the opening set after he wasted 4 set points; eventually, it was Nishikori to conquer the opener after winning a grueling tiebreak at 9. Andy didn’t lose his composure to break the Japanese in the first game of the second set; unfortunately, Andy dropped his serve in the 8th game (4-all) to break back Kei soon after and win the 2nd set 6-4. Things looked extremely smooth for the Brit in the decider after Andy won 5 consecutive games (from 0-1 to 5-1), but Nishikori didn’t want to let it go to win 3 consecutive games (5-4) before Murray sealed the deal with a perfect hold (at love). The final score was 6-7 (9) 6-4 6-4.
I didn’t strike as I wished. MURRAY
Andy wasn’t very happy with his tennis even if he admitted that Nishikori was playing really well. The Brit commented
“I didn’t feel like I was hitting the ball as well as I would have liked. It didn’t matter whether I tried to hit the ball a bit harder, adjusted my position on the court, nothing was helping. So as the match went on, I was becoming sarcastic with myself.”
Next vs. Wawrinka
Andy will play Stan Wawrinka in the last match. The head to head is 9-7 for the Brit, but Stan has won 3 of their last 4 matches and he defeated him last year in the finals 7-6(4) 6-4.
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| THE TABLE |
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| STILL STRONG! |
