Julien Benneteau gifts the win to Andy Murray in round three – Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2012
French tennis ace, Julien Benneteau, retired in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Thursday after incurring an injury. British number one, Andy Murray, advanced into the quarter-final stage of the tournament after
the retirement decision. Scores were 6-5 in favour of him at that stage.
Both players were seeing each other for the third time at the courts. Unsurprisingly, the Briton had won both the previous encounters and was lucky to bag a premature win in an hour and 24 minutes.
Previous two battles were played in Wimbledon 2006 and Western & Southern Financial Group Masters 2009. The former one was contested on grass court whilst the latter on the hard court and this time Murray stamped his authority
on clay. So, he has defeated the 30-year-old French on all platforms.
World number four started the match with a tight serve hold and clasped the initial breakthrough in the following game to take a lead of 2-0. However, the 31st ranked French pounced on him in the third game and won the
breakpoint back to diminish the trail; coupled it with a commanding serve hold to level the scores at 2-2.
After an initial outbreak, both players settled into the scenario and capitalized on their serves. There was a time when the inferior ranked French was under the cosh but he saved a couple of breakpoints to register a very tight
serve hold. He exerted pressure on Murray as well but couldn’t convert a breakpoint in his favour.
In the ninth game of the match, Benneteau fell miserably on the court while stretching to reach for the difficult backhand return. He twisted his body and the pressure on one side proved to be the last action of the match. He asked
for a medical treatment and after consulting with his physio decided to call it off.
It was a very disappointing end to such a promising match. The set was entering the most entertaining phase but that unfortunate event ruined everything. The third seed Murray awaits the winner of the match between Kei Nishikori
and Tomas Berdych.
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