2011 Australian Open: Andy Murray ousts Jurgen Melzer to make it to the quarterfinals
The 2010 finalist here, Andy Murray moved one step closer to his maiden title win when he made it into the quarterfinal round of the 2011 Australian Open, after doing away
with Austrian ace, Jurgen Melzer.
A Grand Slam title still eludes the Brit as he puts in his sixth straight participation at the event. The closest he came to the title win was in 2010 when he made it all
the way to the finals before losing to the eventual Champion Roger Federer.
Starting his maiden title run last Tuesday, Murray defeated Karol Beck, Illya Marchenko and thirty second seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to setup a fourth round clash with
Melzer.
Opening serve, Murray broke serve in the fourth and sixth game to secure a 4-2 lead. Clinching a 6-3 victory, Murray came strong into the second set and secured a breadstick
victory in only thirty minutes.
Enjoying a 2-0 lead in the set score, Murray rushed into another early lead in the third set and in only twenty eight minutes secured a 6-1 victory for himself. Enjoying
yet another straight sets victory, Murray maintains his no set loss record in the event.
The number one Brit hit 30 winners to Melzer’s 21 including 13 aces, losing only 23 of 73 points on service and converting 15 percent of 14 break points to secure a three
set win in almost ninety minutes. Melzer’s 27 unforced errors to Murray’s 10 only added to the Brit’s advantage.
Joining Murray in the quarterfinal round is seventh seed, David Ferrer.
Coming from a title win at the Heineken Open in Auckland a week ago, the number two Spaniard continues to maintain his form at the grand Slam event. Sailing past Jarkko
Nieminen, Richard Berankis and Sam Querry, Ferrer setup a fourth round clash with rising Canadian qualifier, Milos Raonic.
In a match that lasted almost two hours, Ferrer secured a four set win, due to a stumbling Raonic, rather than his own skillset. Hitting 3 aces to Raonic’s 13 and only 23
winners to the Canadian’s 57, Ferrer relied much on Raonic’s 68 unforced errors to carry him into the quarterfinals.
Opening serve, Ferrer had his serve broken once in the first set to lose 4-6 to Raonic. Bouncing back in the second set, the Spaniard fought back to prevail 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Ferrer moves ahead in the next round to play either compatriot Rafael Nadal or Croat Marin Cilic while Murray next plays Alexandr Dolgopolov.
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