Features

Murray eyes US success

Author: John Harris
Date: 24/08/2009
Tennis betting

The US Open at Flushing Meadow is just around the corner and Great Britain have high hopes of success given the excellent recent form of Andy Murray.

Murray has risen to number two in the world rankings in recent weeks and is a strong contender for the title, having lost in last year's final to Roger Federer, who is the online favourite to be victorious again this year.

Federer has since secured the French Open title and won back his Wimbledon crown following an epic five-setter against Andy Roddick, but Murray remains the man who a lot of pundits are tipping for glory.

A year ago he defeated Rafael Nadal on his way to the final and will have high hopes of securing his first Grand Slam title this time around.

Twelve months ago Murray opened his campaign with a comprehensive straight sets win over Argentinian clay court specialist Sergio Roitman, destroying the South American 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.

Next up for Murray was French doubles specialist Michael Llodra, who represented a far bigger test for the Scot.

Murray took four sets to subdue the threat of Llodra, eventually coming through 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 in a match which clearly got the Briton right into the tournament.

However, his campaign looked to be ending in the third round when he fell two sets behind to Austrian left-hander Jurgen Melzer.

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However, after escaping from a tense third-set tie-break, Murray romped through the final two sets to take his place in the last eight, finally seeing off Melzer 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-3.

In the quarter-finals Murray faced tenth seed Stanislas Wawrinka and a tight encounter was predicted by most experts, but the British number one was clearly buoyed by his escape against Melzer and made light work of his next opponent.

Murray raced through 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final and set up a mouthwatering last-four clash with world number one Nadal.

The Spanish powerhouse was fresh from his epic Wimbledon final win over Federer and was hotly tipped to win his first Grand Slam title on a hard court.

However, Murray got off to a flyer by taking the first set 6-2 and, when he won the second set 7-5 in the tie-break, Nadal was right up against it.

He responded by securing the third set 6-4, but Murray held his nerve to see out the match, taking the fourth set 6-4 to set up a showdown with Federer.

However, the final proved to be something of a damp squib as Federer roared to a fifth straight title at Flushing Meadow, brushing Murray aside 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

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