Ferrer ousts Murray out of Madrid Masters
Britons Andy Murray’s bid to win a masters title on his comeback ended in despair when he was rolled over by Spain’s David Ferrer 7-6, 6-3 in the quarter final.
Ferrer who was playing on home ground, looked up for it right from the start, pushing Murray on the back foot from the initial stages of the match, and led the first set 5-2 at one stage. Murray clawed his way back in an intensely contested first set, by winning three games on the bounce. But the loss of serve early in the second game cost him dearly, as Ferrer won the first set 7-5.
The Spaniard continued the momentum from the first set into the second and took a 3-0 lead, but Murray raised his game once more taking three more games on the trot, by levelling the set at 3-3. This extra effort seem to take a lot out of Murray, as Ferrer went on to win the next three games and eventually the match.
The ninth seed Ferrer was evidently more charged up for the quarterfinal. The Spaniard got the upper hand right in the beginning, and it took Murray till the ninth game to pull the break of serve back, which he lost in the second game.
Both players tested each other to limits in the sevent game of the first set, where there were three short rallies. But Ferrer had a bit more up his sleeves to go 5-2 up, only to show some signs of taking it easy. Murray won next three games, after saving one set point, through a brilliant double handed forehand Murray eventually lost the first set.
The second set was also a close call, and Ferrer fought hard once again to break Murray early, and after bunch of tough rallies he did manage to get the break, to go 2-0 up. He followed it up by holding his serve to make it 3-0.
Murray who has been in splendid form after his comeback, since the loss in the Australian open final to Federer. He dug deep to raise his game once again, and broke Ferrer back to level the set at 3-3.
Despite the brave comeback from Murray, Ferrer seemed more in control and showed immense composure much to the delight of his home fan. The game was finalised after two hours and fifteen minutes when the world number four Murray missed a return sending it into the net.
After the defeat Murray said, “It's been very good. The first two matches were obviously great to win, sometimes you lose matches where you play well”.
"Tonight's match was not one I was necessarily expected to win, but over two hours for a 7-5 6-3 match kind of suggests that it was very close”.
Murray had lost five of his ten matches, since the Australian open final, from the start of 2010. His agility and baseline strokes in the earlier games were enough to suggest that he is on his way back, and will be a threat to the top three once he is fully back to his form.
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