An emotional Andy Murray thanked his lucky stars after saving five match points before beating Spain’s Tommy Robredo 5-7, 7-6 (11/9), 6-1 to win the Shenzhen Open in China yesterday — his first title since winning Wimbledon last year.
The two-time Grand Slam winner and Olympic champion appeared headed for an upset defeat when he trailed 6-2 in the second set tiebreak, only to reel off four straight points as Robredo tightened when on the brink of victory.
The pair both wasted chances to seal the set as they mixed glorious winners with nervy misses, with Robredo blowing a fifth match point at 7-6, before Murray eventually blasted an unstoppable forehand to take it and force a decider.
World No. 11 Murray then broke Robredo three times in the third with the Spaniard, also chasing a first win of the year, appearing hampered by injury as he failed to chase down balls.
“Today was obviously an incredibly tough match ... and I got lucky at the end of the second set,” Murray said in a courtside interview. “I fought hard and I tried my best and thankfully managed to turn it around.”
The victory at the US$590,230 outdoor hardcourt event boosted Murray’s hopes of making a sixth appearance at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London in November after he was forced to withdraw from the event last year through injury.
The 27-year-old Scot moved up to 10th by adding 250 points to his tally and is within 105 points of Czech Tomas Berdych in the eight and final qualifying spot.
The victory, the 29th of his career, came after a difficult week for the normally shy Briton, who received horrendous abuse on social media for supporting Scottish independence in a referendum earlier this month.
A despondent Robredo, who had bullied the Briton with a bruising forehand for the opening two sets, took little satisfaction from his second runner-up finish of the year.
MALAYSIAN OPEN
AFP, KUALA LUMPUR
Japan’s rising tennis star Kei Nishikori clinched his first Malaysian Open title yesterday after taming France’s Julien Benneteau in two tightly fought sets.
The top seed beat the fourth seed 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, becoming the first Asian to win the ATP Word Tour 250 series tournament.
Nishikori already made waves when he advanced to the US Open final, making him the first Asian man to make a Grand Slam singles final.
Yesterday’s much-awaited showdown at a packed Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur got off to a cracking start as both players traded 17 strokes in the first rally, which proved to be a first of many long exchanges.
Benneteau took an early hold of the tie to lead 3-1, but Nishikori displayed gritty resilience, powering back to draw level before going on to clinch the first set, which included two subliminal back-hand volley winners at full stretch.
The world No. 8 again trailed world No. 28 Benneteau 2-3 in the second game, but leveled before breaking the Frenchman in the fourth to take the lead.
Nishikori, who had likened Malaysia to playing back home, was roused by the crowd to then smash some cross-court winners to stand at 5-4.
The 24-year-old sealed victory with a power serve, which Benneteau returned into the net.
In the doubles, fourth seed Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Leander Paes of India beat second seed Britain’s Jamie Murray and Australia’s John Peers 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 10-5.
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