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8/4/08 1:37 PM | David Cox
Andy Murray held cool to withstand a late onslaught from Novak Djokovic and take his first masters series title 7-6(4), 7-6(5).
Cincinnati has been the scene of several of Murray's big breakthroughs, he made his masters series debut here 3 years ago and beat Roger Federer for the first time in 2006
The match will be remembered more for the dramatic finish and Djokovic's last gasp fightback rather than the quality of the tennis. Although there were a number of spectacular heavyweight rallies which left spectators gasping particularly at the business end of the second, the occasion prevented either player from producing their best tennis, the combined unforced error count nearly reaching 100
In Djokovic's case it seems he peaked too early, his outstanding tennis coming against Nadal in the semis but you have to give a huge amount of credit to Murray. The Scot nailed several weaknesses in the Serb's game in Toronto and once again played an exemplary tactical match. Djokovic admitted afterwards that he prefers the higher bouncing ball which he gets all the time against Nadal and he's currently struggling with the much lower trajectory and different spins he gets against Murray.
Djokovic started far more aggressively than in Toronto but Murray was peppering the forehand and the unforced error count started building fast. While the Scot eased through his service games, intelligently keeping Djokovic off balance with a mixture of kick serves and pure pace, Djokovic's serve was having little impact and once they were into a prolonged rally he struggled to keep the ball in court. He somehow edged through two service games both lasting over 10 minutes to reach a tiebreak but Murray was always going to be in control of the shootout and soon led 6-2. Nerves briefly took over before he sealed it 7-4
In set 2 Djokovic made the better start, nailing a few thunderous shots to break for 2-1 but double-faulted twice to hand the break straight back. The Serb's frustration was growing, he was being passed regularly at the net and starting to run out of ideas, increasingly using the dropshot. Murray in contrast, while not particularly aggressive, was retrieving superbly and then stepping up to unload off either wing. He broke for 5-3 and the match seemed his. However at the death, finally Djokovic started to find
his range. Going for broke he saved 4 match points, one with a netcord and soon it was all square again.
However Murray has a steely mental resolve and in the resulting tiebreak he continued to draw the errors, moving 4-2 ahead and then 6-4 before converting match point 6 with a crunching backhand
“It's huge to win a first major tournament, and to do it in a match like today makes it more special,” said Murray. “I've been in the semifinals four times before this week, and lost every time against tough players. This week I played well the whole week, and even though he had the chance to get back into the match, I was really happy with the way that I fought and stayed in there.”
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Did you know that... Andy Roddick holds the record for fastest serve, 154.7 mph.
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Andy Murray
Novak Djokovic
Western & Southern Financial Group Masters
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Well done Andy ;-)
RafaNadalGirl20 , 8/4/08 11:05 PM