Andy Murray beats Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-2!
Serving for the match, Murray reaches a Cilic drop volley and prods a backhand winner down the line for 15-0. He’s playing out of his skin now. A clever slice forces Cilic to scramble a volley into the net for 30-0 and Murray has three match points when the Croatian steers a backhand wide. Cilic nets a forehand and that’s that. The match belongs to Murray and I believe he’ll have the honour of playing Kei Nishikori on Wednesday. Thanks for reading. Good night.
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Second set: Murray 6-3, 5-2 Cilic* (*denotes server): Oh boy. At 15-all, Murray hoicks a defensive lob into the air and he’s rewarded for his persistence when Cilic wallops a smash wide. Soon Murray has two break points, Cilic netting a backhand, and he takes the first with a peach of a forehand winner. Murray will serve for the match.
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Second set: Murray* 6-3, 4-2 Cilic (*denotes server): Just as he did in the first set, Cilic fancies his chances of breaking back straight away, pinging a backhand return past Murray for a 15-30 lead. But he’s not going to break playing this kind of tennis, two forehands sailing long to make it 40-30. Murray holds to 30.
Second set: Murray 6-3, 3-2 Cilic* (*denotes server): Peeling backwards, Murray adjusts brilliantly and hooks a superb forehand winner down the line for a 0-15 lead. It’s 15-30 when Cilic nets a forehand, 15-40 when he aims wide with a slice down the line. Cilic saves the first with an ace. Murray takes the second with a forehand winner.
“One of the biggest differences in Murray this year I think has been that even when he appears out of sorts, he still finds a way to win,” Simon McMahon says. “We know he’s always been a great fighter, but where previously he would have let his frustration get the better of him, leading to loss of sets and even matches, his ability to grind out wins even when struggling shows one of the hallmarks of a No.1 player. As such his consistency is remarkable, even by his own standards. Though he wouldn’t be the same player if he stopped chuntering to himself and his box. Don’t ever stop that Andy.”
Second set: Murray* 6-3, 2-2 Cilic (*denotes server): Murray holds to love.
Second set: Murray 6-3, 1-2 Cilic* (*denotes server): Murray enjoys a slice of luck on the first point, a fortunate net cord going his way and leaving Cilic stranded at the back of the court. 0-15. Cilic rattles through the next three points, though, to lead 40-15. Murray keeps him waiting, fighting back to 40-30 when Cilic stoops and knocks a volley long, and then he makes it deuce with a fine backhand pass from left to right. Cilic bangs an ace down the middle and comes up with another snorting serve to hold.
Second set: Murray* 6-3, 1-1 Cilic (*denotes server): Murray drops the first point, netting a forehand, but Cilic lifts a slice wide to make it 15-all. Then, a good rally. Cilic wins it. Murray is forced to skitter and hit long. Soon Cilic has a break point, but Murray saves it with a swinging serve down the middle. In the end, Murray holds, Cilic going for too much.
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Second set: Murray 6-3, 0-1 Cilic* (*denotes server): At 15-all, Cilic surprises Murray with some lovely serve-volley, dinking a forehand volley away to lead 30-15. A big serve makes it 40-15 and he holds when Murray pulls a forehand return wide.
Andy Murray wins the first set 6-3!
Serving for the set, Murray finds himself in a commanding 30-0 lead after forehand errors from Cilic. Then the Croatian nets a forehand, giving up three set points. Murray only needs one. Cilic misses a backhand return and the first set is Murray’s, although the world No1 has looked pretty nervy out there. He’s made 14 unforced errors. But Cilic has made 17.
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First set: Murray 5-3 Cilic* (*denotes server): Serving to stay in the set, Cilic makes short work of it. He holds to love, crashing a forehand away, and piles the pressure on Murray.
First set: Murray* 5-2 Cilic (*denotes server): Murray’s making a lot of errors with his forehand, which helps to explain why Cilic still has hope in this set. He gets away with it at 15-all, Cilic barely able to believe his luck when what would have been a forehand winner clips the top of the net and flies past the baseline. Another errant forehand from Cilic takes Murray to 40-15, which has arguably been the story of this set, but two more errors sees the game go to deuce once more. Murray keeps Cilic at bay, though, and finds himself a game away from taking a rather drab first set.
First set: Murray 4-2 Cilic* (*denotes server): At 30-15, Murray becomes a little loose, trying a half-hearted drop shot that barely reaches the net. It’s his 10th unforced error, which is most unlike him. Cilic holds with his first ace.
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First set: Murray* 4-1 Cilic (*denotes server): After three successive breaks, Murray could do with a solid service game here. He hasn’t served well so far. He’s not much of a rhythm when he’s had the ball in his hand and a double-fault, his third, makes it 15-all. Another poor forehand makes it 15-30. The quality is not high. Murray tells himself off, then produces a good serve to force Cilic to send a forehand return wide for 30-all. Murray manages to save another break point and the game goes to deuce, before the world No1 holds when Cilic lifts a slice wide.
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First set: Murray 3-1 Cilic* (*denotes server): Murray will be so annoyed with himself for letting go of that early advantage; he played some careless tennis in that service game. The Croatian’s level is inconsistent too. A double-fault makes it 15-30, a big serve makes it 30-all, a feeble forehand gives Murray a break point. Murray breaks again when a frustrated Cilic clips a forehand wide.
First set: Murray* 2-1 Cilic (*denotes server): Now Cilic begins to unwind with his forehand and Murray can’t hold back his power, huge blows earning the Croatian a 0-15 lead. The game goes to 30-all; Murray is already chuntering at the officials. Soon it’s deuce, for the second successive Murray service game, and he’s facing a break point when he messes up a simple forehand at the net, blootering it wide. Cilic has an immediate chance to break back. He couldn’t take break points in the opening game – but Murray gifts him this game, skewing a forehand wide.
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First set: Murray 2-0 Cilic* (*denotes server): Murray’s on the prowl at the start of this game, moving into a 0-15 lead when Cilic drags a backhand wide. Cilic wins the next point, though, before Murray uses up another challenge for no reason at all when the Croatian finds the line with a volley. The game goes to 30-all, though, and Murray earns his first break point when Cilic pings a backhand wide at the end of a tense 22-shot rally. It’s all he needs. Cilic sloppily nets a forehand and Murray breaks.
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First set: Murray* 1-0 Cilic (*denotes server): Murray wins the first point, Cilic knocking a backhand long, but the Croatian is quickly into his groove, settling any nerves by winning a lengthy rally with a huge swipe on the forehand side for 15-all. Murray follows that up with a double fault, wasting a challenge on the second serve, and that’s 15-30. He attacks the net on the next point but his chopped volley isn’t quite good enough and Cilic clumps a forehand past him to earn two break points. Murray saves the first, serving well, then Cilic squanders the send by sending a forehand long. After surviving that scare, Murray holds.
The warm-up is done. A brief retreat to the chair, a brief moment to sit and reflect and have a quick drink. Then they’ll be up and playing tennis. In fact, here they come. It’s Andy Murray to serve first.
Murray got a standing ovation from the crowd when he emerged, even though he looks like he’s auditioning for a role in the army tonight. What a get up.
Remember, in the afternoon match, Kei Nishikori crushed Stan Wawrinka.
Andy Murray is wearing a black shirt and dark green shorts. Marin Cilic is wearing swimming shorts.
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The players are out on court. I’m not on court. The wifi is appalling again.
Is it fair to say that Andy Murray needs a big win over Novak Djokovic to truly cement himself as world No1? His detractors might say that’s the case, especially with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal out of the picture. What do you think?
Preamble
Number one! Number one! Number one! But for how long?
What a year it’s been for Andy Murray: Wimbledon champion again, the owner of two Olympic golds, a new father, the new world No1. For the first time in his career, Murray is looking down on the rest of his contemporaries after a breathless run of form that has gathered fearsome pace since the summer. It has been some effort from the Scot, who arrives in London looking to extend a 19-match winning streak that has seen him recover from US Open and Davis Cup disappointment by picking up titles in Paris, Vienna and Shanghai, thereby ending Novak Djokovic’s long reign at the top of the rankings.
But Murray will know better than anyone else that a wounded Djokovic is a dangerous Djokovic. You get to the top of the mountain – but he can’t stop now. Djokovic is bound to be hot on his tail now, determined to wrestle that No1 spot off his closest rival. If Djokovic wins every match this week, Murray will be back in the Silvio Dante role next Monday – so to stop that happening, the likelihood is he’ll have to beat the Serbian in Sunday’s final.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Murray has been placed in the tougher of the two groups and starts with a tricky one against Marin Cilic. He has generally had the Croatian’s number down the years and leads 11-3 in their head-to-head record, but Cilic was victorious when they met in the Cincinnati final in August. The world No7 and former US Open champion is not to be taken lightly, even though he has the Davis Cup final against Argentina to think about next weekend, not least because Murray has not always produced his best tennis at the ATP World Tour Finals. You suspect he’ll need to show why he’s the new No1 tonight.
Play begins at: 8pm GMT.
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