Murray mauls Querrey at Wimbledon
Andy Murray continued to play in top form at the 2010 Wimbledon championships, dropping American youngster Sam Querrey in three straight sets on Tuesday. The Scot, ranked no. 4 in the world, is considered Britain's best chance to take home the coveted grass-court trophy. He outplayed Querrey throughout most of the match and more importantly, came through with the clutch finishes he needed to delight the home crowd with a 7-5, 6-3 and 6-4 victory.
The victory means that Murray has now advanced to the quarterfinals without having lost a single set. In the first set Murray looked impressive, breaking the 21-year-old to take a 4-1 lead. But Querrey battled back to eventually tie it at five games apiece, and had three consecutive break points against Murray before Murray rallied back to win 7-5. That was as close as it came for Querrey.
The second set started much the same way, with Murray breaking Querrey in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead he never relinquished, breaking Querrey once again in the ninth game to take the second set as well.
The third set was the only one where Querrey played relatively well from the get-go, obtaining his only lead by winning the first game on service. The two traded services back and forth with neither able to break the other in the third set until finally Murray broke away in the ninth set to take a 5-4 lead. On match point Querrey fired a forehand wide to send Murray through.
Murray's chances looking good
With victories over unseeded Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic, unseeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, no. 26 seed Gilles Simon of France and now Sam Querrey, seeded 18th, Murray has racked up a record of 12 sets won and zero lost thus far.
Better news for Murray is that perennial favourites Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have both looked human in their run-up. Federer played a frantic first match in which he battled back from the brink of defeat, down two sets to nothing to eke out a victory.
Nadal has also looked shaky, falling down two sets to one in both his matches against unseeded Dutch player Robin Haase and no. 33 ranked German player Philipp Petzschner. Additionally former finalist Andy Roddick suffered a massive upset, meaning that Murray is now looking like he has a legitimate contender to finally keep the Wimbledon Cup on home soil and win at the All-England Lawn and Tennis Club.
Querrey disappoints
Murray forced Querrey to play poorly around the net and would force him back with long lobs before bringing him back with drop shots and tiring out the 6'6'' American. He forced errors on Querrey's forehands as well, and oddly enough it was Querrey who looked a little lost on the grass court.
Querrey on the other hand lacked the ability to capitalize when he had Murray on the ropes. On his first eight break points, he only capitalized on one, letting the Brit off the hook in front of his home crowd. Had he managed to break Murray at 5-5 in the first set he would have been in a good position to do something no one else has done against Murray yet this year – win a set at Wimbledon.
Querrey was considered to be a bit of a dark horse coming into the tournament, as although he only had a no 18 seed he'd recently looked impressive by winning on grass at the Queen's Club tournament in the finals against Mardy Fish. But for now he'll have to work on his net play, forehand and finishing ability.
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