Andy Murray celebrates after reaching the French Open quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 win over Fernando Verdasco Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images
Andy Murray is in the quarter-finals of the French Open, a little tired,
still reaching for his best game, but ready for what should be a hugely
entertaining match against France's favourite maverick, Gael Monfils, on
Court Philippe Chatrier on Wednesday.
It took Murray just over three hours to beat world No 25 Fernando Verdasco
in straight sets on Court Suzanne Lenglen on Monday, the last session a 70-
minute grind that he might have cut short by at least 20 minutes but for a
spirited fightback by the Spaniard.
There was as much relief as joy for Murray at the end, and no little
satisfaction in getting this far for the fourth time on his return to
Roland Garros after missing last year's tournament when his back gave up on
him.
The Scot surveyed the battlefield after the early skirmishes here and
observed that, despite the departures of Stanislas Wawrinka and Kei
Nishkori, it would still take 'great tennis' to win the tournament. It was
a sensible judgment, given the continued presence of the best two players
in the world, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, plus the game's enduring
master, Roger Federer.
Murray reckoned he was playing some 'good tennis' but would need to move up
a gear as the draw began to open up in the second week - and then came the
shock of the draw: Federer's departure over five sets against the
unpredictable Ernests Gulbis, and another frisson of speculation rippled
through Roland Garros, like some suburban scandal.
It's still a wide-open tournament. On the other side of the draw, Gulbis
plays Tomas Berdych, and Novak Djokovic, who as cruised for all but one
match, meets Milos Raonic. If Murray beats Monfils, he will almost
certainly play Nadal, who has a quarter-final against his compatriot David
Ferrer, whom he walloped in last year's disappointing final.
In the fourth round on Monday, and coming off a five-set struggle against
Philippe Kohlschreiber that straddled Saturday night and Sunday, Murray had
no reason to reassess his earlier synopsis after finally putting the tough
Spanish clay-courter Verdasco to the sword. He was good, but some way short
of great.
If the Scot has another gear, he will need it against Monfils and, beyond
that, he will find himself on the train home if does not rediscover the
sort of magic that all great tournaments demand towards the end of the
second week.
'I was a bit nervous at the end but I'm glad to get through,' Murray said.
'I was trying to play more aggressively today, because I knew I was going
to be a little tired in my legs. The ball wasn't always going in but I got
there. I'm laughing at myself more than smiling, but I always enjoy it
here. I've know Gael for a long time. I first played him when I was 10, he
was 11. He is an unbelievable entertainer and a very, very nice guy - but
it will be a tough match.'
It was difficult to identify stand-out moments in his 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3) win
over the Spaniard, whom he has now beaten on Tour for the 10th time,
against a single loss, at the same stage of the Australian Open in 2009.
This was their first match on clay, and Murray tamed an opponent who
regards the surface as his natural home, so there was much for the world No
8 to feel pleased about.
There was an eerie symmetry to the occasion, especially as they both wore
appalling luminous green shirts, dark shorts and white peaked caps,
courtesy of their kit provider, Adidas. Verdasco also mirrored, left-
handed, some of Murray's tics, such as lifting his lead leg and leaping
into his double-handed backhand, and in the manner of rolling his strong
wrists through his forehand - although there were as many fierce flat-
batted strokes as draining, top-spun rally stretchers.
What Murray had to be most thankful for, however, was Verdasco's
temperament. It is easy to see why a player of his ability does not win
more big matches when he surrenders to the blood boiling in his veins on
key points. It was the occasional Verdasco meltdown that provided Murray
with most of his openings.
Murray started in snooze mode and was not properly alive to the challenge
until he'd battled through three deuce points to hold his first serve. But,
having broken, he gave the advantage back immediately, as he has done far
too often in his career, a mental glitsch, a a dip in intensity - and he
cannot afford that luxury against better players than Verdasco - which
Monfils most certainly is on his day. From all accounts from Chatrier, not
to mention the roars that drifted over occasionally to the second court,
the Frenchman was in splendid and typically eccentric form accounting for
another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.
On Lenglen, meanwhile, Murray kept grinding. He smashed his first ace for
set point and held to go one-nil up after 46 minutes. It was routine
efficiency rather than spectacular domination.
The second meandered similarly, interrupted by the occasional vocal
explosion by Verdasco. A scream that would have done Evard Munch proud
preceded a smash that nearly cleared the stadium, but Murray kept his cool,
drawing Verdasco into an overcooked reply to his drop shot and the match
was almost in his kit bag.
At 2-4 on his serve in the third, Verdasco was dumbstruck when the chair
umpire, Pascal Maria, called in Murray's favour for break point - and
lashed a forehand straight into his opponent's body at the net. Murray
smiled. Verdasco smiled - and then swore his head off after another call
went against him, but Murray conceded the point and what might have been a
volcanic incident spluttered to a rather British conclusion.
Given he'd just taken a Carl Froch-strength wallop to the kidneys, it was a
noble gesture by Murray - or maybe he just wanted to get back to the
service line and wrap this match up.
However Verdasco continued to make life difficult for him all the way to
the final bell - and Murray helped him out with another double fault to
hand him his first break point since the first set - and he took it with a
clattering crosscourt backhand for 4-4.
Another disputed line call went Verdasco's way and, for the first time
since he was 4-3 up in the serving cycle in the second set, he led. Murray,
having been perfectly positioned to finish the job at 4-2, now had to serve
to save the set at 4-5. He did so, but the mood had changed appreciably.
Verdasco's 50th unforced error gave Murray a 40-love cushion. He held for 5-
all. It was at this point in the second set that Verdasco's passion got the
better of him. Not this time. An immaculate drop shot for 6-5 put the
pressure back on Murray, who looked tetchy and frustrated. He forced the
tie-break, and, screaming as loud now as Verdasco had been earlier, on good
points and bad, and finished with a regulation smash.
Fred Perry and Bunny Austin are the only British players who have won more
matches here than Murray. He might need some of their old dash to add
another one - and then, who knows?
Post By http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jun/02/andy-murray-french-open-fernando-verdasco
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