Andy Murray vs Mardy Fish – Semi-final Preview: Western & Southern Open 2011
With big names being disposed off from the competition, the semi-final round of Western and Southern Financial Group Masters is about to begin and the world number four, Andy Murray of Great Britain will take on the world number
seven, Mardy Fish of the United States, for a berth in the final.
The contest will take place on the outdoor hard courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, United States, on Saturday afternoon, with the winner getting a shot at the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
Master Series championship title.
Seeded at number four in the tournament, Murray has exhibited his top class once again to make it to the semi-final round. The Britain took off his Cincinnati Masters campaign from the second round, disposing off the former world
number three, David Nalbandian of Argentina. He then defeated Alex Bogomolov in the third round and eventually took down the 10th seeded Frenchman, Gilles Simon in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarter-final matchup to reach the round of four.
Murray is yet to lose a set in the tournament and has registered straight sets victories against all the competitors he faced en route to semi-final.
Murray has been in magnificent form this season but have only bagged one ATP singles title till now. The Briton has taken part in 42 singles encounters and has stood victorious in 32 of them, suffering defeats in just 10.
America’s number one tennis player, Fish has been in his best form ever this season and has been very consistent with his performances. He got a bye to the second round, where he outplayed the former world number three, Nikolay
Davydenko of Russia, and then blew away the 12th seed Richard Gasquet of France in the next round. Fish produced an absolute shocker in the quarter-final when he defeated the world number two, Rafael Nadal of Spain, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, to
surge into the semi-final round.
Fish is currently running a three-match winning streak against Murray and leads the all-time head-to-head series by 4-3. These two men went one-on-one in the quarter-finals of Cincinnati Masters last year and Fish stood tall against
the Briton to make it to the semis. He will be eyeing to replicate the similar feat this time round and get through to the final of the tournament.
“He’s played his best tennis the last year or so. If you look at his game, it hasn’t changed a whole lot,” expressed Murray while talking about Fish after his quarter-final victory over Simon, “It’s just confidence of winning matches
and understanding how to play his game most effectively. He’s in good shape. He’s been very, very consistent, which maybe he wasn’t in the past. That’s why his ranking has gone [up].”
Fish also leads Murray 3-2 on hard-courts and with his near perfect form these days, the American is deemed to be the hot favourite for Saturday’s matchup. It will be a treat to watch two of the top class players battling it out
for a title shot on the hard courts of Cincinnati.
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