|
Weary Murray stumbles to another big victory
2006-08-17
Andy Murray followed up his landmark victory over Roger Federer by beating Robby Ginepri in a three-set thriller that put the Scot in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. A weary Murray managed to break the aching American in the closing moments to complete a 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-4 victory in just over two hours. The triumph came a day after the biggest win of the 19-year-old's career, a second-round upset of world No. 1 Federer. It looked briefly as if Murray wouldn't be able to build on that achievement, as faded to lose the second set and went down a break in the third against 2005 US Open semi-finalist Ginepri. But Murray found strength to fight on, and secured the match as he broke the flagging Ginepri in the final game. Both men could barely stand at the conclusion. "When you're tired and you know there are only two or three games to go, you just fight for it," said Murray, who has played 13 matches over 16 days. "That keeps you going. I was struggling at the end, but I had to keep believing. I was able to break him - not because of my good play but because of his errors." The Briton added: "In the third set, I didn't feel like I would win it. It was tough to get back in, my legs were burning after each point. It was the first time I've felt like that on court. "It was more humid today and the court felt like it was burning under my feet. At the end I was not thinking, I was just trying to get the ball onto the court." Murray will face off Friday night against 2005 finalist Andy Roddick. The ninth-seeded American defeated Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-4. Second seed Rafael Nadal, who is the only man besides Murray with a win over Federer this year, boosted his hardcourt confidence by a huge factor with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 victory over German Tommy Haas. Nadal stepped up to serve for victory against the 14th-seeded Haas, the champion in Los Angeles last month, having lost just two points on serve in the second set. The 20-year-old two-time Roland Garros champion got out of a brief jam as he saved a break point, with Haas sealing his own fate with a weak drop shot effort on a match point for Nadal. It took less than two hours for Nadal to advance on the back of 27 winners and 18 unforced errors into a clash with senior Spanish compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former US Open finalist. "I'm happy for this win today, I feel a lot better about my game," said Nadal, winner of five titles this season. I was playing badly last week, but today I improved a lot. "This was a good test for the US Open," he added. "I had some doubts, but now I don't." Nadal is looking for his first trophy since winning the French Open in June over Federer. His hard court season began badly last week in Toronto as he lost in the third round to Czech Tomas Berdych. In the quarter-finals he'll face compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat Sweden's Robin Soderling 7-5, 6-4 Fourth seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic fired 10 aces in his 1hr, 45min victory over 16th-seeded Dominik Hrbaty. Ljubicic soared to his sixth victory in the series against two defeats at the hands of the Slovak, ending Hrbaty's run of wins in their previous two meetings. The Croatian improved his record-setting season to 49 wins, 13 defeats, including titles in Chennai and Zagreb. Coming into Cincinnati he had made the quarter-finals in nine of a dozen events this season. Ljubicic set up a clash with Spanish seventh seed Tommy Robredo, who defeated the last Frenchman in the field as he dispatched Florent Serra 6-3, 6-1. Chilean No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez reached his second straight Masters quarter-final with a defeat of Swiss Davis Cup player Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 (7/2), 7-5, booking a contest with 10th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, who beat eighth-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 6-4
Mauresmo, Sharapova to play at U.S. Open (2006-08-29)Impressive Roddick crushes Serra in first round (2006-08-28)Weary Murray stumbles to another big victory (2006-08-17)7 (11285)
| 
