Right then - play in this game will resume at 11am tomorrow morning, with the final not starting before the oddly-specific time of 2.25pm.
Quick reminder that it’s 3-3 in the first set, with Murray A-40 ahead on Troicki’s serve.
Cheers for sticking with this, if you have done so far. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remainder of this match, and the final. Ta ra!
Play suspended for the evening
And we’re done...
#AegonChampionships update: play suspended for this evening with new order of play to follow
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) June 20, 2015
Rain’s heavier now. A few hardy souls are sticking it out, huddled under umbrellas in the stands, but water is sloshing around on the covers.
It’s now looking likely that the game will be held over to resume again tomorrow morning.
Updated
Well, this suggests that they still think play could conclude tonight. But it would be unlikely...
#AegonChampionships update: it continues to rain and there will be a review at 6:45pm
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) June 20, 2015
Apparently there will be a review of play at 6.15pm. But it don’t look great.
Quick reminder that it’s 3-3 in the first set, with Murray A-40 up on Troicki’s serve in the seventh game. And they were just about to take new balls too! Cruel fate, why must you tease the balls so. If you will.
Apparently it’s now ‘unlikely’ that there will be any more play today, so the chances are they will be back tomorrow to finish this one off. Just watch Independence Day or something in the mean time.
There’s a chuffing colossal cloud settled over Queen’s Club like an alien ship over the White House in Independence Day.
Updated
The covers are coming on now. They must mean business about the big drops.
Ah, nuts. It’s raining again, and after a couple of minutes warming up, they’re going back indoors. “It’s not going to happen. It’s going to be big drops now,” says a tournament official of some description.
Troicki’s shoulder doesn’t look too bad as they knock up. Although he’s a man with a two-handed backhand, so it could still cause him a few problems.
The players, along with a chap wearing a blue v-neck and clutching a walkie talkie, are on their way back out.
Still quite grey out there though. Any plants looking to tuck into some sweet, juicy photosynthesis will be sadly frustrated. If that’s how photosynthesis works. Is it? No idea.
Anyway, they’re ‘brushing the court’. With brushes, one assumes. No word on what sort of brush, will bring you more as we get it on that one.
Oddly, they haven’t put the covers on the court, and everyone’s standing around looking vaguely aimless...and it’s probably because they’re back, back, back baby - assuming there’s no further rain, they will be playing again in about ten minutes.
Play suspended due to rain
First set: Murray 3-3 Troicki* (* denotes server)
Murray hits a quite brilliant backhand on the run down the line that the crowd start cheering before it’s even landed, then for the benefit of symmetry he does the same on the forehand side, chasing down a volley brilliantly. He nets a return and says ‘dammit’ in the style of a man who’s just realised there’s no milk in, and Troicki manages to save a couple of break points. The Serb is struggling on his first serve, though - only working at 54% so far. Troicki slips and slides as he approaches the net, but there’s no obvious damage to his ankle.
However later in the point Troicki goes down clutching his shoulder...it looked pretty innocuous, breaking his fall going for a low forehand that he netted to give Murray advantage and a break point, but he needs some treatment on that left shoulder. Murray changes his shirt and gets some wolf-whistles - awful objectification, there...
Troicki gets up after his treatment, It’s starting to rain now, and there’s some debate about whether to suspend play...which they do as the rain gets a little stronger.
Updated
First set: Murray* 3-3 Troicki (* denotes server)
Lovely backhand down the line forces Troiki to net, and a couple of big serves give Murray a hold with no alarms and no surprises. These two have faced each other six times, and Murray has won ‘em all.
First set: Murray 2-3 Troicki* (* denotes server)
Very polite crowd, at Queen’s. So polite that it’s so quiet you can hear the players breathing, never mind talking. Murray gets to a big Troicki overhead and tries to guide a winner down the line, but it goes just wide. Troicki takes the game, and he’s looking pretty assured. Meanwhile, Sue Barker is recounting the ‘banter’ between Murrays Andy, Jamie and Judy on Twitter.
Updated
First set: Murray* 2-2 Troicki (* denotes server)
Troicki makes a half-hearted attempt to come into the net, but the attempt is doomed from pretty much the moment he put one foot forward, as Murray zips the ball past him with a marvellous forehand. Murray looks in absolutely no trouble whatsoever until a couple of well-constructed points from Troicki brings it back to 40-30, but Murray closes out the game after the Serb puts a backhand drop-shot wide.
First set: Murray 1-2 Troicki* (* denotes server)
For a moment it looks like Murray has a break on his hands, with a service error that could cost Troicki, but the big Serb manages to serve it out after Murray nets a relatively straightforward forehand.
First set: Murray* 1-1 Troicki (* denotes server)
Pretty emphatic hold from Murray. The first point is an ace that just, just, just clipped the very corner of the service box, understandably challenged by Troicki but to no avail. The only real rally of any note sees Murray put a cross-court forehand long, but that’s an anomaly as Murray holds to 15.
Updated
First set: Murray 0-1 Troicki* (* denotes server)
Troicki doesn’t really have a traditional grunt, but more a sort of hiccup-sounding thing when he serves. It’s like he’s trying to lift a heavy coffee table with the inadequate help of a colleague. Anyway, he overcomes this affliction to hold to 30, Murray briefly chiding himself for one error.
And we’re away. Troicki will serve first.
No sign of beef in the pre-match photos. Bah. Polite smiles all round. It’s coming, though. Oh it’s coming.
Meanwhile, the winner of this semi will play Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the final, who beat Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in the other semi. Les Roopanarine has the 411 on that one.
Preamble
Beef! Prime cut, medium-rare, premium quality beef! As any fule no, sport is much more interesting when the participants don’t actually like each other, or if there is some sort of animosity or friction between the two. Tiger Woods v Sergio Garcia, Roy Keane v Patrick Vieira, Roger Clemens v Mike Piazza - wonderful, tender, delicious beef.
Now, Andy Murray v Viktor Troicki might not quite be up there with the beefiest of the beef, but there’s still a little meat between the two. Maybe some paper-thin carpaccio. But still, there’s history between the two, largely stemming from when Murray criticised his opponent for refusing to take a blood test. He said, back in 2013:
Whether either player (Troicki and Marin Cilic, who was banned for ‘ingesting a prohibited substance’, apparently from an over-the-counter medicine) was intentionally cheating or not - we don’t know that, and I don’t think either of them are like that - but both of them were unprofessional.
“I personally would never go and buy something over the counter in a pharmacy - it’s just unprofessional.
“I think 10 or 15 years ago, when people didn’t think drug taking happened in sport, people might have thought ‘yeah, we can just buy stuff over the counter in any old pharmacy’. But we can’t do that and you have to accept that.”
And he stood by those words when it was clear these two would be playing each other. Will Troicki react by channeling his anger into playing tennis like he’s never played tennis before? Will he get violent? Or will he accept that he made a mistake and deal with the whole thing in a professional manner?
For the sake of entertainment, let us hope it isn’t the latter.
Nick will be here shortly. Meanwhile, read Kevin Mitchell’s account of Murray’s comeback victory in the quarter-final against Gilles Müller on Friday.
