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  • Barcelona Second Round: Mario Ancic vs. Andy Murray

    4/29/08 5:43 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - That (picture to the left) is how Mario Ancic reacted to his epic three-set win over Andy Murray last month at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Murray gets a chance for revenge on Tuesday in the Barcelona second round.

    Tuesday’s second-round Open Sabadell Antlantico showdown in Barcelona between Mario Ancic and Andy Murray will be the fourth career head-to-head meeting between the two players and already the third in 2008. Murray took care of Ancic 6-3, 6-4 in the Marseille final, but the Croat returned the favor with a classic 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(7) victory in Miami. Ancic’s win back in 2006 gives him a 2-1 advantage in the series. All three of the matches took place on hard courts, a surface on which both Ancic and Murray are more comfortable.

    For someone who has constantly been plagued by injuries, Ancic has been borderline on fire this season since returning after the Australian Open. He reached the final in Marseille, the semifinals in Zagreb, the third round in Indian Wells, and the fourth round in Miami. Proving he is no slouch on clay, the 6’5’’ Croat has already won one match in Barcelona. He completely destroyed Mischa Zverev 6-1, 6-0 on Monday and lost just four points on serve in the process.

    Murray captured two titles earlier in the year (Doha prior to Marseille), but he has been mediocre at best ever since. A move to the clay will not help matters. The Scot managed to win two matches last week in Monte-Carlo, but his run ended with a discouraging blowout loss to Novak Djokovic. Murray has been a non-factor on the red stuff throughout his young career, although there was nothing he could do about it in 2007 because he missed most of the clay season with a wrist injury.

    Even though Ancic will not be able to dominate with his huge serve like he can on hard courts, he should be able to control this match if he serves well. Murray cannot be confident coming off his performance against Djokovic last week, whereas Ancic is sky-high after his 42-minute destruction of Zverev. This is Ancic’s match to win—despite the difference in ranking and seeding—and he should take it in two close sets, perhaps three.

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Did you know that... In Miami 2006, Argentinean Carlos Berlocq first defeated Donald Young 6-0, 6-0 and then lost 6-0, 6-0 to James Blake in the following round.

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