Match report

Ernests Gulbis © Tennistalk.com
Stella Artois Championships
3rd round
6/12/08 1 2 3 Tot
lv  Ernests Gulbis 7 1 4 1
gb  Andy Murray 5 6 6 2
Andy Murray © Tennistalk.com

  • Murray slips and slides into last 8

    6/13/08 12:36 AM | David Cox
    Andy Murray dragged his battered body into the quarter-finals, stumbling past Ernests Gulbis 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 on a slippy center court at Queens

    Both players will feel quite fortunate to have survived the match relatively unscathed. Persistent rain (which caused several delays during the afternoon) made the grass quite treacherous at times and the number of times both men hit the deck led many fans to question the safety of playing in such conditions

    Murray made a slow tentative start, seemingly convinced that a strategy of patient baseline rallying would lure Gulbis into errors. Instead it was the Latvian’s whose flair earned him the opening set though not without some good fortune. Serving at 5-5 events conspired to hand Gulbis the first break, a wild shot from the Latvian which was sailing yards long hit Murray as he tried in desperation to avoid it while running across his own baseline. In the same game Murray injured his thumb diving to intercept a pass that never made it over the net. A weak second serve was then punished before Murray double faulted to lose serve.

    In set 2 Murray’s returning improved and a classy drop shot winner earned him a 3-1 lead. Gulbis appeared to lost interest in the set and the match moved into a decider

    There was a moment of panic for all British supporters as Murray collapsed to the ground at the start of the 3rd, reminiscent of his ankle injury here 3 years ago. Luckily this time it was just a slight neck and groin strain and he was able to continue. The set appeared destined for a final set tiebreak until a few points on Gulbis’ serve at 4-4 swung the match decisively in Murray’s favour. Firstly a Gulbis forehand was challenged and proved to be narrowly wide giving the Scot 2 break points. On the second of these Gulbis could only net a fierce Murray passing shot and the Scot served out to love.

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