Murray trounces Dolgopolov, moves into semis
Today, Andy Murray got up, had breakfast, and decimated Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Murray is getting through this tournament with scary nonchalance. Aside from a slight hiccup in the third set, he was unflappable as he took the Ukrainian to the sword in a classy 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 victory.
The match started off slow, with a long first game. Murray had some trouble with his serve, conceding a point with a double fault. Eventually, he served up an ace to win the game though.
On his own serve, Dolgopolov started what was to be a long series of unforced errors, going down after offering Murray two break points, the second of which he took.
In the next game, things went his way for a change, and a backhand winner gave him the break.
At 2-1, Murray broke Dolgopolov to love, helped by the Ukrainian’s continuing series of unforced errors. He then held, again courtesy Dolgopolov.
With 13 unforced errors in just the first 5 games, Dolgopolov was doing all of Murray’s work for him. Getting his serve up and running, the Ukrainian no.1 fought back, winning his own service game after a deuce and then whacking a couple of winners to break
Murray back. Keeping his momentum going, he held again.
Looking more confident with every shot, he gave Murray a serious fight for his service game. Murray survived though, and the match stood at 5-4. Excellent serving by both players took the score to 6-5. Dolgopolov served well, but at 40-30 Murray delivered
an amazing passing forehand off a Dolgopolov smash. After four set points, he finally breaks, and takes the set.
Dolgopolov had his serve up and running, as his 9 aces showed, but his error rate was almost too high for him to function. Murray served a quick-fire first game in the second set, and his opponent countered in a similar manner, taking the score to 1-1.
Murray stayed consistent, holding to love. Dolgopolov, however, ramped up his error count and handed Murray another break. At 4-1 Murray again held to love. Dolgopolov finally got a say in the proceedings, and held.
With his third consecutive love service game, Murray stood at 5-2. Then, Dolgopolov was forced to battle out a long game to hold. Murray served a straightforward game to take the set 6-3. So far, the match was very one-sided, with Murray having to do almost
nothing to win.
The third set quickly got to 3-3, with a break each going to either player.
While not cutting down significantly on his error rate, Dolgopolov had started hitting winners more consistently. Murray, not having been pushed in the match to this point, was broken at 3-2 as Dolgopolov finally found his touch.
For the first time in the set, Dolgopolov went up at 4-3, helped by his forceful ground-strokes.
Winners were then hit by both, as Murray held on for a well-contested game. Dolgopolov held to love, serving brilliantly. Murray reciprocated, also holding to love. A dogfight then ensued, as the longest rally of the match occurred at deuce.
Murray erred, and the score went to 6-5. A brilliant drop-shot was the highlight of the next game, which took the set into tiebreak. Errors and a double fault by Murray make things easy for Dolgopolov, who gained four break points and then succeeded on the
second.
The fourth set passed quickly, Murray went ahead 4-0 in a blink. Dolgopolov hit his best shot of the match, an acutely angled forehand, to break and make it 4-1.
Heartened, the Ukrainian hit powerfully to hold. Murray then routinely served the next game out. Dolgopolov served his out too, and then Murray was serving for the match. Helped by two more errors from Dolgopolov, he was handed the game, and with it the
match.
The final score was 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
An atrocious 77 unforced errors by Dolgopolov made the passage for Murray easier than it should have been. Even 57 winners were not enough to counter the mistakes, and Murray’s 34 errors and 33 winners proved sufficient.
It was a brilliant tactical game by the Scotsman. He capitalized on his opponents weaknesses, played the retrieving game well and minimized his own mistakes. As he prepares to face either Rafael Nadal or David Ferrer in his semi-final match, the world roots
for this brilliant tactician and tennis player.
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