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Andy Murray Indian Wells 2021

Andy Murray rolls back the years to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas, saying: ‘I dictated’


Andy Murray reminded everyone of his quality on grass once again as he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in Stuttgart.

Murray mostly skipped the clay season to get a head start on his grass preparations, and that looks like being a good decision after he was too good for the world number five in Germany.

It was not a case of Tsitsipas struggling either, with him playing some very strong tennis in the first set especially.

However, it was Andy Murray who came through with a 7-6, 6-3 quarterfinal win to set up a clash with Nick Kyrgios in the last four.

“It was an amazing atmosphere,” Murray said on court afterwards.

“Almost a full crowd. Beautiful weather today, really nice conditions to play tennis. I thought I did well. He served unbelievably in the first set.

“I felt like I had very few chances, but when he was creating chances on my serve, I stayed strong.

“I played a really solid tie-break and in the second set, once I was in the rallies, I felt like I was dictating a lot of the points. It was a good performance.”

Kyrgios beat Marton Fucsovics in his quarter-final, and he said he was looking forward to renewing his on-court rivalry with Murray.

“I know what to expect but he also is a veteran on the grass and I don’t want to take him lightly at all,” Kyrgios said.

“I’m just going to go out there, serve big, look after my serve and see what I can do on his return games.”#

The win for Andy Murray was, remarkably, his first against a top five player on a grass court since the 2013 Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic.

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.