MURRAY'S MINT ... Andy
lifts Sony Open
Miami twice
ANDY MURRAY moved up to No 2 in the world as he roared to
victory in the Sony Open.
The Brit came back from a set
down to dramatically beat Spain’s David Ferrer 2-6 6-4 7-6 in Miami.
But Murray, 25, was still not
pleased with himself despite leapfrogging Roger Federer in the world rankings.
After a see-saw match containing
15 breaks of serve, he admitted: “I served poorly. If I’d served better I could
have made it easier and that’s something I need to do better in the clay-court
season.
“This week I did a lot of things
well but I need to serve better.
“It’s easier to return on clay so
it’s even more important to serve well.
“It was a strange match. I just
managed to fight well in the end in incredibly difficult conditions.
“A couple of years ago I probably
would have lost that sort of match. I was up a break three or four times in the
third set and kept letting him back in. There was a lot riding on the match and
I was glad to get through in the end.”
Murray looked to be starting well
but threw away two break points in the opening game.
Ferrer was more decisive when he
had the chance to take the initiative and promptly went 2-0 ahead.
Only a wonderful winner from
Murray stopped Ferrer taking the third game to love but it was a rare moment of
joy for the Scot as he went 4-0 down. At 5-0 behind Murray finally got on the
scoreboard by winning the next two games, only to lose the first set on a
double fault.
But he got his act together in
the second set and claimed the first two games, including his first break of
the match.
Roared on by a supportive crowd,
Ferrer clawed back a break to take it to 4-4, only for Murray to break again
before serving out for the set.
The third set was captivating.
Incredibly, the first six games went against the serve but the sequence ended
when Ferrer held. Murray duly followed suit to make it 4-4 with a classy
backhand pass.
The US Open champion looked to
have made the decisive move when he broke once again to leave himself 5-4 up
and serving for the match.
But Ferrer hit back, putting
together a run of four points to break Murray and level it up.
After holding for the second
time, Ferrer reached match point on the Murray serve and would have taken the
win had a dramatic challenge gone his way.
Instead, Murray’s shot was just
in at the baseline and he forced the tie-break.
With Ferrer wilting, Murray
summoned one last push and claimed the first four points on his way to a 7-1
tie-break win.
That brought him his second Miami
Masters title and left only Novak Djokovic ahead of him in the world rankings.
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