Andy Murray whips Potito Starace in the third round at Rome Masters
World number four, Andy Murray has successfully made it to the last eight at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the first time in his career. He advanced to the quarterfinal
on account of his straight sets victory against Potito Starace of Italy. The 23-year-old Murray converted four of nine breakpoints on his way to a 6-2, 6-3 victory in an hour and seven minutes. The Scot has definitely gained some much-needed momentum which
will help him when he goes up against Florian Mayer of Germany in the quarterfinals for the first time in his career.
The 23-year-old Scot has been facing problems during matches, an outcome of not having picked up the racquet since Australian open. However he composed himself and played
tremendously against the last Italian man left in the draw. Starace, who displayed tremendous tennis skills in his previous match couldn’t compete at a significant level and lost the match in straight sets. The Italian was completely shattered by the end of
the match as things didn’t happen the way he wanted them to. Starace had bright start to the match but his confidence continued to lessen as the Scot showed some of his classy moves. The Italian was nowhere near his best tennis and went down without much of
a fight.
The Scot didn’t face any real challenge from his opponent and recorded his twelfth victory of the running season without any difficulty. Murray ousted Starace in every department
of the match and dominated most of the rallies against Starace. He scored 84 percent on his service, 48 percent on return and 63 percent in the whole match. Undoubtedly, Murray was better than Starace in every field but he made a few mistakes of his own at
some crucial moments. He recorded one double-fault whereas his opponent was much better who completely followed the rules and didn’t commit any double-fault during the process.
The Scot kept his cards pretty close to his chest and entered the opening set with some solid plans which he revealed later. He served the opener brilliantly, having 79
percent accuracy but the Italian was way far batter with 93 percent of them of his first serves. Murray displayed brilliant athleticism and went on to thrash Starace in the first set 6-2, as the Italian’s level of intensity dropped. Starace was worse in his
second serves as he failed to take any point on them. Murray on the other hand put in an incredible mental effort to regain his lost glory and converted 100 percent points on second serves.
The second set followed the same pattern and didn’t bring any luck for the Italian who completely crumbled under the pressure. Having comfortably sailed through the opener,
the Scot started the second set on a very competitive note. He registered once ace, 65 percent of first serves and won 76 percent of points on them. Murray recovered his commanding touch and scored an impressive victory with a 6-3 score in one hour and seventeen
minutes.
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