Andy Murray wins 6-4, 7-5!
Lu has reason to be worried when he splutters a forehand long on the first point; but then he punches away a volley for 15-all. The next two points are shared; then Lu sends a forehand long, giving Murray his first match point. A lob from Murray is enough. He’s through. He has his first victory of the grasscourt season and he’ll play Fernando Verdasco in the second round. Thanks for reading. Bye.
Updated
Second set: Murray* 6-4, 6-5 Lu (*denotes server): Murray serves big and strong and holds to love with a searing forehand. Lu has to hold again. We’ll have a tie-break if he does.
Second set: Murray 6-4, 5-5 Lu* (*denotes server): Murray bellows at himself after netting a backhand at 15-all. Lu holds to 30. Are we heading for a tie-break?
Second set: Murray* 6-4, 5-4 Lu (*denotes server): Murray strolls to a comfortable hold to love; Lu will serve to stay in the match.
Updated
Second set: Murray 6-4, 4-4 Lu* (*denotes server): Lu isn’t budging yet. He holds. Murray still has some work to do.
Second set: Murray* 6-4, 4-3 Lu (*denotes server): Murray’s serve clicks into gear, an ace making it 40-0, another one polishing off a regulation hold.
Second set: Murray 6-4, 3-3 Lu* (*denotes server): Lu holds to love.
Second set: Murray* 6-4, 3-2 Lu (*denotes server): Murray dances into a 40-0 lead and this time it’s more straightforward, no drama as Lu cracks a forehand return wide. “Please tell me there’s no mango in the office,” says Simon McMahon. “Because as we all know the only way to eat mango is by stripping naked and sitting in the sink. And that’s an image we can do without at tea time.”
Second set: Murray 6-4, 2-2 Lu* (*denotes server): Lu hangs his head after double-faulting at 30-40. Murray has a break point. He was clinical when he had them in the first set; here, though, luck is on Lu’s side. A thrashed forehand volley clips the top of the net and lands on Murray’s side. Murray had read the direction of the shot but couldn’t adjust in time after its destination was altered by an unexpected diversion. He grabs another break point quickly, though, and this time Lu can’t repel him. Murray breaks back.
Updated
Second set: Murray* 6-4, 1-2 Lu (*denotes server): Murray is up 40-0, just as he was when he was broken, but he’s not concentrating. Lu attacks a couple of weak serves and it’s deuce again. Murray holds, though, an ace getting him out of a potentially sticky situation, before Lu hits wide.
Second set: Murray 6-4, 0-2 Lu* (*denotes server): Lu couldn’t consolidate when he broke in the first set. He does this time. He’s giving the world No3 a few headaches.
Second set: Murray* 6-4, 0-1 Lu (*denotes server): The second set begins while I’m peeling an orange. I thought I had more time! Damn this speedy umpire. Damn him! Murray is in a rush too, quickly into a 40-0 lead, but he slows himself down with two casual errors. Forty-love becomes deuce. Lu has hit some good returns and he carves out a break point with a clever slice. Murray growls. He had this game in the bag. Lu wastefully knocks a backhand long but he earns another break point by giving Murray the runaround with some intelligent shotmaking. Lu rattles a forehand into the corner and he breaks. Murray has been a bit dozy.
Andy Murray wins the first set 6-4!
Lu makes a nervy start to this game, netting a forehand, but he overpowers Murray with a big serve to make it 15-all. The next two points are shared but Murray has a set point when his defence wears Lu down, a backhand going wide. Another backhand goes long and Murray, who waited until he was down a break before waking up, claims the first set. He’s been nowhere near his best but perhaps some rustiness is to be expected.
Updated
First set: Murray* 5-4 Lu (*denotes server): Murray holds with the minimum amount of fuss and now it’s up to Lu to stay in the first set. “I’m glad Murray has gotten rid of the baseball cap,” Simon McMahon says. “Never a good look for a grown man. Yes, I’m looking at you Tony Pulis.” Murray doesn’t like playing with a cap, as it happens.
First set: Murray 4-4 Lu* (*denotes server): Murray’s hot two-game winning streak comes to an end, Lu holding to 30. This is tight.
First set: Murray* 4-3 Lu (*denotes server): This is more like it from Murray, holding to 30 when Lu stabs a slice into the net. Having seen off the apple, I’m eyeing an orange. I’m playing football later and I believe that footballers have the juice of oranges running through their veins.
First set: Murray 3-3 Lu* (*denotes server): Murray, as you’d expect, gave himself a good telling off during the changeover. It rouses him. At 15-30, Lu plays a poor approach shot and Murray steers a backhand past him for two break points. Like Murray, Lu saves the first - a smash - but not the second, wafting a forehand wide. There goes the break. “Afternoon Jacob,” says Simon McMahon. “A confident start from Lu, but Andy will win 7-5 6-3. And he’s going to WIN WIMBLEDON, too. What kind of apple by the way? I see you as a sweet and crunchy Fuji or Pink Lady devotee. Maybe a tangy Cox’s Orange. Murray is a Braeburn. Scottish, hard and occasionally sour.” It was a Braeburn. I Am Murray.
First set: Murray* 2-3 Lu (*denotes server): I’ve finished the apple. It’s the cue for Murray to disintegrate. He makes an inauspicious start to this game, in a spot of bother at 0-30 after slicing wide and double-faulting, and soon he’s facing two break points. He saves the first with a forehand winner but Lu then swipes a forehand down the line to break! Well, well. It’s like the 2008 Olympics all over again. Murray has been very flat.
Updated
First set: Murray 2-2 Lu* (*denotes server): Murray has a little tic that comes out when an opponent hits a winner he appreciates: “Yup.” We hear it when Lu sends a backhand past him on the first point. He clambers into a 40-0 lead and holds with a deceptive slice down the line. Murray thought it was floating wide and more or less stopped, but it landed inside the line.
First set: Murray* 2-1 Lu (*denotes server): Murray holds to 30. It’s hard to type while eating an apple.
First set: Murray 1-1 Lu* (*denotes server): Murray won the last time these two met, beating Lu in straight sets at Wimbledon two years ago, but he’ll remember his abysmal performance against him in the first round of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. That was one of the worst defeats of Murray’s career. Overall he leads their head-to-head 2-1, though, and no one expects him to lose this. Lu holds to 30 here, though.
First set: Murray* 1-0 Lu (*denotes server): Murray holds comfortably. I missed the entire game, as I was walking back to my desk after buying an apple, and it’s that professionalism that keeps the fans coming back to this site.
Preamble
Hello! There’s no time for a proper intro. I’ve just dashed over from watching Rafael Nadal lose to Alexandr Dolgopolov. Hopefully there are no surprises in store for Andy Murray against Chinese Taipei’s Lu Yen-hsun.
Updated
