Andy Murray rallies past Ivo Karlovic into the round of 32 – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Great Britain’s fourth ranked player, Andy Murray, moved one step closer to fulfil his dream of winning at the All England Club, as he defeated Croatian giant, Ivo Karlovic, in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships on
Thursday.
In a much anticipated match, Murray had to bring out his best game to end the challenge of Karlovic in four sets 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-6(4).
The Croatian struck in the very first game of the contest and moved ahead 1-0 but Murray broke back immediately to even out the score at 1-1. The next nine games went with serves to take the score to 6-5 in favour of the Brit.
Serving to stay in the set at that moment, Karlovic could not hold and lost it 5-7.
Both players served brilliantly in the second set, as they did not allow each other to create even a single break opportunity till the end, squaring off the proceedings at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. Murray and Karlovic
went neck to neck till 5-5 but the Croatian played two remarkable points after that to seal it 7-6(5).
After losing the second set with the slightest of margins, Murray made the best possible start in the third, claiming breakthrough in the opening game and holding his subsequent serve to gain a 2-0 advantage. The British number
one struck again in the seventh and made the most of his double break to grab it 6-2.
In a similar fashion to the second set, Murray and Karlovic held their serves throughout the fourth one to level the score at 6-6, taking it to a tie-breaker. However, the Brit captured last three points this time to snatch it
7-6(4).
Talking about the match afterwards, Murray said, "Any match you just want to try to find a way to win. It's not always about how you play. [I] got off to a bad start of 0/40 down, and then I broke straightaway, straight back. Then
after losing that tight second set, to get that break at the beginning of the third set was important as well.”
He said, while commenting on Karlovic’s game, “Today, he was going for huge second serves. I've played him before. I don't remember him serving that big on his second serves. A lot of times he was in the high 120 [miles per hour]
on the second serve. He hit a few great volleys today."
The Brit is slated to play former Australian Open finalist, Marcos Baghdatis, in the third round.
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