British hope Andy Murray (pictured) was dominant on serve as he booked his spot in the AEGON Championships semi-finals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Mardy Fish on Friday at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament, staged at the Queen’s Club in London.
The World No. 3 fired 11 aces as he surrendered just five points on serve – including winning 30 of 31 first-service points – in the 70-minute match. At the close of a tight first set, Murray gained a crucial break of serve in the 11th game and sealed the one-set lead as Fish miscued a smash. Murray then broke through twice in the seventh and ninth games of the second set to wrap up his 38th victory of the season and improve to a 3-1 career lead over Fish.
"I did serve very well today," commented Murray. "I changed direction of my serve on the second serve very well. Even when I did miss my first serve, I didn't feel like I was letting him into a rhythm on the return, and the rest of my game was solid. He's got a big serve. He comes to the net a lot and makes it tough for you and I managed to get the break through right at the end of the first set."
The top-seeded Scot is bidding to become the first British champion at the Queen’s Club since Bunny Austin triumphed in 1938. Tim Henman was the last Briton to reach the final, finishing runner-up in 1999 (l. to Sampras), 2000 (l. to Hewitt) and 2002 (l. to Hewitt).
The 22-year-old Murray, who is through to the Queen’s Club semi-finals for the first time, is bidding to clinch his first grass-court ATP World Tour title. The Dunblane native has won three ATP World Tour titles from four finals this season and is well on course to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which will be held at the O2 arena in London in November.
It is a month filled with expectation for Murray as this week he fine tunes his grass-court game ahead of The Championships at Wimbledon – where he will carry the hopes of a nation as he bids to end Britain’s 73-year wait for a men’s singles champion. Last year, the Scot made a Grand Slam breakthrough as he reached his first major quarter-final after thrilling the Centre Court crown by recovering from a two-set deficit against Richard Gasquet in the fourth round.
In the semi-finals, Murray will face a first-time meeting with Former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero - who reached his first grass-court semi-final with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Belgian Steve Darcis.
Looking ahead to the clash, Murray said: "If I serve well, I've got a chance like anybody does on grass. I need to make sure that the rest of my game is solid tomorrow. There will be a lot more rallies. Ferrero has a very good return. The rest of my game will have to be on, not just the serve and the return."
The 29-year-old Spaniard had previously reached the quarter-finals at three grass-court tournaments at 2007 Wimbledon (l. to Federer), 2006 ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Serra) and 2005 Halle (l. to Haas). He improved his record on grass to 26-14.
"After the first two matches I felt very well on the court, and I believed that I could make good results with the first semi-final (on grass) for me," said Ferrero. "Of course, I don't want to stop right now with good feeling to try to win the tournament."
World No. 73 Darcis, appearing in his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season, broke Ferrero's serve in the seventh game of the match before closing out a one-set lead with a love service game – featuring two aces. Ferrero was quick to hit back in the pair’s first meeting, breaking to lead 3-1 in the second set and going on to level the match. The 2003 Roland Garros champion then earned a crucial break in the seventh game of the final set to seal victory after one hour and 47 minutes.
Ferrero, currently No. 90 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, won his 400th tour-level singles match in his first-round win over Sebastien Grosjean. The right-hander is chasing his second ATP World Tour title of the season, after snapping a title drought of nearly six years in April with victory in Casablanca (d. Serra).
World No. 6 Andy Roddick came through a testing encounter with Ivo Karlovic in a repeat of the Queen's Club 2005 final. The American edged the Croatian 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in a match featuring 50 aces and no service breaks.
In the 82-minute match, Karlovic fired 26 aces to take his total for the week to 106 - breaking the tournament record of 96 aces that he himself had set on his route through to the final in 2005. The 6’10’’ Zagreb native was not broken in 49 service games during the tournament.
"You kind of have to hold your nerve a little bit on your own service games," commented Roddick. "It gets to 30/30 if you miss one ball that could be a set. You're not going to get any looks to get back into it.
"You kind of have to go from not doing a whole lot in the points, kind of just walking back and forth, and then you have to be ready to be sharp when you do get the opportunity or when you do have to play a point. So mentally it's a little tricky."
The 26-year-old Roddick is two wins away from becoming the first player in the Open Era to win five titles at the Queen’s Club. The Austin, Texas resident has a 29-3 match record at the event, clinching three successive titles from 2003-05 before reclaiming the trophy in 2007 (d. Mahut). The two-time Wimbledon finalist is chasing his second ATP World Tour title of the season to join the trophy he won on hard court in Memphis (d. Stepanek) in February.
Roddick next will face countryman James Blake after his Davis Cup teammate ousted Russian Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(5), 6-3 in 76 minutes. The sixth-seeded Blake converted all three of the break points he created and won 73 per cent of points on serve to improve to a 2-1 career lead over Youzhny.
Despite trailing their head-to-head 2-6, Blake has won his past two meetings with Roddick – including in the Queen’s Club semi-finals three years ago.
World No. 16 Blake reached the Queen’s Club final in 2006, when he finished runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in his second appearance in a grass-court final (also 2002 Newport – l. to Dent). The 29 year old is looking to reach his second final on the ATP World Tour this season after finishing runner-up to Albert Montanes on clay in Estoril – a match in which he held two match points.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3949.ASP)
