Andy Murray held off Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Thursday. Murray came back from a 5-3 deficit in the second set to prevail in one hour and 43 minutes.
Pospisil served at 5-4 in the second and had a set point but lost a grueling rally and was never the same. A time violation immediately thereafter, which cost the Canadian a first serve, did not help. The match ended on a wide forehand by Pospisil that was called out but challenged. Although both players thought it was in, replay sided with the call.
“Obviously, the second set was a lot of momentum swings,” Murray reflected. “I went up a break, was feeling good, but then I lost my serve to love in the next game. In the game after that I got broken to 15. Obviously, when he was serving for it he was in a great position. But we had a 30-shot rally on set point. It was a very physical rally, I was making him do more of the running and I think it took quite a lot out of him.
“My level was good. I moved well and I felt like when I really needed to, I was able to improve my level and step my game up a bit. I found a little bit of extra intensity in the important moments and that was key.”
Highlights:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYRKkDUS6k]
Another high-quality battle saw Stan Wawrinka overcome familiar foe Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-2. Wawrinka fired eight aces without double-faulting as he advanced in two hours and 15 minutes.
This one ended when Wawrinka struck an apparent service winner that seemed to be either on the line or just long. Garcia-Lopez challenged, clearly expecting to be wrong. Instead, the ball was shown to be way out. Nonetheless, the Swiss finished the job two points later.
Wawrinka wins, then doesn’t:
[polldaddy poll=8653128]
Muzz has been good this week. I like him to take the title.
Muztakes the title and he overtakes Rafa in the rankings……………
Set Simon
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9uigDRCYAE06_P.png
I watched only 2 last games.
Murray goes down in straight sets. Simon was too strong for him today.
Rafa gets smoked by a guy he’s owned (Berdych) and press start writing Rafa obituaries. Muzza gets smoked by a guy he’s owned (Simon) and no, I do not expect to see any Muzza obituaries……………..
There will be
And if there arent, it will be because this is Rotterdam. Not the Australian Open.
Why would they write obits about a supposed journeyman?
Okay, there are passes for the size of the tournament, not for having spent the better part of the Fall season on the sidelines. Not making any excuses for Rafa, mind…….. 😉
@hawkeye63, operative word being, “supposed”………..
I didnt write this, obviously
#InsideJokings
Id call it #outside
According to you, you didn’t write it and nobody suggested it but…
“Or is he another journeyman in the Tim Henman mold, whose only constant characteristic is to fail on the big stage?”
#MysteryWriter
Bodo obit for ritb…
“But I don’t believe Murray is especially interested in earning my sympathy; he’s interested in earning more Grand Slam titles.
Judging by the way Murray handled the Australian Open final, his own emotions may present a formidable obstacle to his realization of that goal. ”
http://espn.go.com/blog/peter-bodo/post/_/id/1004/the-andy-murray-problem
Raonic has improved big time.
Has a great shot at taking Rotterdam/
hawkeye,
http://media.giphy.com/media/vAVjZuA9bKdvG/giphy.gif
I hope you and Rafa get well soon @nadline.
#RelatedEvents
Thanks, hawkeye. 🙂
I like to have fun. 🙂
Speaking of, hey Ricky how’s about unmoderating My posting on Rafa’s page?
#oKEI
Is your moderated post a double page spread of Caro?
probably
I wish!
Speaking of Rafa obits (by omission), so I was watching the Murray Pospisil match and after Murray came through, one of the commies (federazzi) says with Murray’s recent good form, perhaps we are back to a Top 3 along with Federer and Djokovic going on to say that it is tough to stay at the top with the likes of Raonic, Berdych, Wawrinka, Cilic and Dimtrov all looking to crash the party.
No mention of Rafa at all.
They were full of this kind of talk exactly 2 years ago (2013) and Rafa was #1 by the end of September.
“A time violation immediately thereafter, which cost the Canadian a first serve, did not help.”
Garbage rule and garbage judgement at a critical point in the match.
#ShhhFederazziRulingAtWork