Andy Murray is building the sort of tournament form that suggests he is a legitimate favourite to win the US Open for a second time. He is fit, happy and generally hitting the ball with conviction – although his serve went missing on Thursday – while the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, is yet to find a convincing rhythm and Rafael Nadal is still the joker in the pack.
It all seems to be falling into place for the world No2, even the weather. When he won here in 2012, an almighty gale wrecked Tomas Berdych’s high ball toss in the semi-final and discomforted Djokovic in the final, which Murray won in five tense sets. Until day four here there had been almost uninterrupted sunshine, literally and metaphorically.
“Everybody has been asking for one for the last few years,” Murray said of the new roof over Arthur Ashe Court, “then they spend $500m on it and there is no rain. We’ll see what happens.”
What happened was it rained, and Murray went under the roof with Marcel Granollers for two hours and 22 minutes before negotiating a briefly tricky passage to win 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 and move into the third round. The others could do no more than kick their heels in the locker room.
Nadal finished his Wednesday night match against Andreas Seppi with the inaugural use of the magnificent roof and it went up from the start on Thursday.
Murray also played the first full match under the roof at Wimbledon, against Stan Wawrinka in 2009, although he had been beaten to the distinction of a first appearance under cover there by Amélie Mauresmo, later to be his coach, who had finished her match against Dinara Safina sheltered from the elements.
Nothing could guard Granollers from Murray’s storm of heavy hitting, however. While a big chunk of the 35,000 fans wandered from one minor canopy to the other outside, inside the big white bubble it took the Spaniard five games to get on the scorecard. Murray set out in mean and uncompromising mood, the sort of game face he needs to win this title again, and it looked as if no amount of Spanish artfulness was going to stop him taking the first set as he pleased.
The world No2 was dictating to the world No45 as the rankings suggest. Granollers has never properly troubled Murray in their seven matches, although he is a fine player on another level. The only blemish was Murray’s retirement in Rome three years ago, which led to his withdrawal from the French Open and triumph at Wimbledon. Not a lot has changed between them since.
Then there was a glitch. Granollers hung on for 3-5 and grabbed four break points when Murray lost concentration. Murray double-faulted on set point, dumped a simple backhand to give the Spaniard hope, and handed him the break with a sloppy volley. After an hour’s tennis, what had been a stroll turned into a bit of a ramble.
Granollers struggled to sustain his roll: a dreadful forehand handed the Scot an early look in the next game and that set in train a string of seven set points before Murray settled the argument with a sumptuous running cross-court forehand after an hour and seven minutes. All seemed well.
Briefly it got interesting again. Murray’s serve – which had dipped to a worrying 43% at first attempt – got him out of a hole early in the second set but his opponent was encouraged to believe this was a proper contest. Murray did his best thereafter to discourage him in that ambition and rediscovered the rhythm of his promising start, racing to a 4-1 lead after an hour and a half. He served the set out to love with his third ace.
Neither player, however, was going to bring the roof down with his serving. After two hours getting used to the conditions Granollers’ first-serve percentage had crashed to 20% as they embarked on the third set, while Murray was hitting the spot first time only three times in nine. It surely could not be entirely attributed to the changed atmosphere under the roof.
In Murray’s’s case, his timing seemed to be slightly off because his ball-toss was a little too far forward and to the right. Still, he was sound enough to hit five aces – and might have done without the three double faults.
Granollers, a stylish and intelligent player, tried a few drop shots from three-all in the final set but Murray was alert to the danger. By the ninth game he had his opponent reaching for the unlikely and the impossible, a desperate forehand winging it wide for the break.
Murray finished it with a big wide serve, getting it right in the end, as he tends to do.
