Andy Murray defeats Gilles Simon in the second round of Mutua Madrid Open
Andy Murray was supreme on clay on Wednesday evening when he won his second round match at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday, being played at Park Manzanares in Barcelona, Spain. The Scot beat Gilles Simon in the second round
match 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 to add first win to his cabinet, stretching his win loss mark at this ATP World Tour 1000 event to 10 matches.
The Scot’s Barcelona Open campaign was dogged by an elbow injury that forced him to retire from the event. But after a short break the 23-year-old British looked upbeat and showed the world that he was still capable of picking
up more points on clay than his French opponent.
The Scot’s careful start to the match was largely down due to the speedy conditions of the court which made his ball flying faster through the air. However, he kept playing persistently and didn’t allow his confident looking opponent
to exploit his weaknesses. Murray’s persistent approach paid off splendidly at 4-4 in the opening set as his opponent made number of unforced errors that gave away the world number four his chance to break. The Scot continued to play tremendously and after
a well judged job he hit a smart volley that took him to serve out the set completely. He scored 61 percent of points on his service, 49 percent of points on return and 54 percent of points in total to clinch the set with a 6-4 score line.
The British number one looked a bit over confident in the second set and allowed his French opponent to sneak his way right into the next game. However, the French pro gave plenty of chances to Murray but serving at 3-4 he smashed
a long backhand allowing Simon back into the match. Simon continued to pressurize Murray with his attacking moves and eventually managed to clinch next two games and concluded the second set with 6-3 to dictate on even terms. After losing the second set, Murray,
rediscovered his form and didn’t allow the Frenchman to win even a single game. He broke Simon’s serve three times and won six straight games to capture the set 6-0.
Putting his wide forehand to great effect, Murray managed to clinch his sixth victory over the Frenchman, who had defeated the Scot in their first meeting at the fourth round of Rome Master four years ago. But the Scot managed
to gain the upper hand in the final set by refining his serve and outplayed his mercurial opponent in the evening sunshine taking not more than one forty three minutes of play.
In these high altitude conditions, Murray can achieve further strength on Thursday when he will face the professional tennis player from Brazil, Thomaz Bellucci. Bellucci, who is currently world number thirty six, advanced at the
event when his German opponent, Florian Mayer called it quits in the midway through to the final set.
Tags: