Andy Murray treats Queen to quick Finnish
Andy Murray has flown the British flag at Wimbledon with a straight sets victory over Jarkko Nieminen as the Queen paid her first visit to the All England Club in 33 years.
The British No. 1 executed a perfect bow for the Queen as he stepped onto centre court on day four and followed it with an exhibition of some of his best counterpunching tennis as he wrapped a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
After surviving four break point chances in the seven minute first game, Murray broke Nieminen’s serve with the first chance he got in the second game of the match to take control of the first set, sealing it with his eighth ace of the match.
While the Finn may have come close to defeating Andy Roddick on clay at Roland Garros only a few weeks ago, where he led 2-1 in their first round match and only lost the fourth set in a tiebreak, Nieminen wasn’t able to put Murray under the same kind of pressure today.
While the Scot largely held court from his preferred position on the well-worn grass behind the baseline, he secured the only break of the second set, which came in its seventh came, with a simple volley at the end of an extended rally after the world No. 67 had previously saved three break point chances in the game.
Murray then opened the third set with another break of serve to firmly establish his stranglehold over the match, which he won in one hour and 42 minutes.
While it may not have been the most exciting contest we’ve seen on centre court at Wimbledon in four days so far, it was an encouraging performance from Murray, who has been struggling to find his top form since losing the Australian Open final to Roger Federer at the start of the year.
The 23-year-old’s serving yips look to have been put behind him, as Murray served down 18 aces with a respectable 63% first serve percentage. And while Murray was content to play his customary defensive brand of tennis today, he did produce 31 winners for the match to raise hopes that he may just be a genuine contender for the Wimbledon crown this year.
Tags: