The top three players in the world will be a part of the Australian Open semifinals after Andy Murray held off David Ferrer 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon. As usual, Ferrer threw everything he had at a heavily-favored opponent but did not quite have enough firepower to pull off an upset.
A grueling second set saw the eighth-ranked Spaniard take it in a tiebreaker after one hour and 11 minutes of play. But the effort to get back on level terms at one set all seemed to take a little bit out of the 33-year-old Spaniard, and the roof closing in the third set certainly did not help his chances. Murray, who struck 49 winners to Ferrer’s 23, eventually pulled away and finished the job in three hours and 20 minutes.
“I think I played well today,” Murray commented. “I think today was probably the best match I played, especially in the second and third set. I started hitting the ball better from the back of the court. I felt like at the end of the match I was playing some good stuff, moving well.”
Highlights:
Like the world No. 2, Milos Raonic survived a second-set hiccup to prevail in four sets. The Canadian beat Gael Monfils 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 while getting broken only once. Monfils delivered a clean performance that featured 36 winners and only 17 unforced errors, but it was not enough. One break for Raonic in each of the other three sets was enough for him to get the job done. The 14th seed finished with 10 aces, 47 winners, and 36 errors.
“It’s a very positive thing if you look at the big picture,” Raonic said when asked about being in the semifinals. “Right now in this moment alone it’s a great opportunity for me. I had a little bit of a disappointing semifinal two years ago (at Wimbledon), and sort of just want to change that story around and give myself another go with more experience and where I feel like I’m a better player than I was two years ago.”
Highlights:
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who ya got?
Murray looks tired and he was really jawing during the match. Crowd was for David.
raonic might take it.
Wow. Fed is a slightly bigger underdog than Milos in their respective semis.
Milos is 3.5:1 dog and Fed is 3.8:1 dog.
Heeeeere Feddy, Feddy, Feddy, Feddy.
Muzza in four though Milos could take it but I don’t expect him to be able to serve well enough to unsettle Murray so much that he would win. I see another GS semi this year from Milos though. Expecting a big 2016 after an already big start to this season.
It is true that Murray was cranky and somewhat out of sorts in his match with Ferrer. He should have won that match in straight sets.
He will need to stay focused against raonic. I expect him to play better and stay focused. I am still going with Murray for the win in 4 sets.