Andy Murray breezes into the semi-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
3rd seeded British wild card entrant, Andy Murray ended the run of in-form Portuguese qualifier, Frederico Gil in a 6-2, 6-1 victory on Friday. Murray has now advanced to the semi-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
in Monaco.
Andy Murray displayed tremendous skills at Australian Open Grand Slam where he reached finals before losing to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. After this his form dipped and he exited from the opening rounds at Rotterdam, Indian
Wells and Miami. However, he entered here with a new coach and overpowered Czech wild card enterant Radek Stepanek and 16th seeded French Gilles Simon in straight sets in the pre-quarter rounds.
The 23-year-old was in full control throughout the match and downed Gil in 72 minutes at Monte Carlo Country Club. He faced the Portuguese for the first time and took the lead in their head-to-head series by 1-0. In the opening
set, after Gil kept his serve in the first game, the Scot went on rage mode to win the next five games in row. Murray then kept his serve in the eighth game to seal the set with a 6-2 win.
He carried his winning ways into the second set and after the Portuguese held his serve in the first game, Murray reeled off next six games in a row to earn a breadstick. Overall he broke Gil’s serve repeatedly and served well
timed aces to seal the deal in straight sets. The Scot earned a spectacular 86 percent win on his first serve share and smacked six ferocious aces in the match.
Murray said, "It was good, I played very well today in tricky conditions. I hit the ball very well for the majority of the match."
Of Nadal, he added: "He is incredibly difficult to beat on clay but you need to believe you can win. I plan on winning the match and you need to go in with that attitude. I've always enjoyed playing Rafa - it's going to be a great test."
Murray will face top seed Rafael Nadal in the semis who reached this spot after trashing Croatian Ivan Ljubicic with a breadstick as well. Nadal broke Croat’s serve five times to win the match with a 6-1, 6-3 score line in 80 minutes.
The British lad can overwhelm the threat by the Clay Court King Nadal if he keeps the same attitude and convert more breakpoint opportunities he finds.
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