Andy Murray trounces Nicolas Almagro to reach the semi-finals – London Olympics
Great Britain’s Andy Murray went one step closer to winning his country’s first Olympics Gold Medal in tennis, as he knocked out the 11th seed, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, in the quarter-finals at the All England Club
on Thursday.
The British number one allowed his Spanish opponent to win just five games in the entire match, closing it 6-4, 6-1 in just 59 minutes.
Murray and Almagro could not break each other in the opening four games, levelling the score at 2-2. The Brit struck in the fifth and held his next serve to attain a 4-2 lead. The world number four did not allow the Spaniard to
comeback, capturing it 6-4.
Carrying the winning momentum into the second set, Murray snatched a break in the very first game and consolidated on it to go up 2-0. The British star hit another blow to Almagro in the fifth and won his following serve to race
to a 5-1 advantage. Serving to stay in the contest at that moment, the Spanish player was unable to hold and went down 1-6.
Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, Murray said, “It’s great, that was the goal coming into the tournament. It’s nice to get the opportunity. It makes a big difference to play in front of a home crowd.
It does add a little bit of extra pressure, but it helps raise your game.”
None of the British tennis players has won a Gold Medal in either singles or doubles category in the history of Olympics. Great Britain’s Charles Dixon grabbed a silver medal in the singles event at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
British duo of Neil Broad and Tim Henman lost to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia in the doubles final of 1996 Atlanta Olympics to win a silver medal.
Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, were also there in the stands to support the home favourite. Commenting on their presence, the Brit added, “It’s always nice playing in front of royalty. You try not to [look up], but
the crowd made a lot of noise when they came out. I think it’s great for tennis when you can get people like that coming along, it helps raise the profile."
Murray is pitted against the world number two, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, in the semi-finals. Djokovic defeated France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets 6-1, 7-5 in the quarters.
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