Murray secures final spot

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:06

Murray also gained revenge for his defeat to Federer in last month’s US Open final as he clinched a 3-6 6-3 7-5 victory in the Spanish capital.

He will next face either world number one Rafael Nadal or Gilles Simon in Sunday’s final.

World number four Murray lost 6-2 7-5 6-2 to Federer at Flushing Meadows in what was the Scot’s first-ever grand slam final, and he had to do it the hard way on Saturday to avoid another defeat to the 27-year-old after losing the first set.

The first breakthrough of the match came in the sixth game when Murray, having already saved one break point at 30-40, overhit a forehand to leave Federer holding a 4-2 advantage.

Federer, who this week overtook Pete Sampras as the record prize winner in men’s tennis history, did not let that advantage slip as Murray dropped his first set of the week.

Having won two of his four career meetings with Federer previously, though, the 21-year-old knew that the situation was salvageable.

And so it proved as Murray broke Federer in the fourth game of the second set to level the match up and keep alive his hopes of winning a fourth ATP title of the year.

In the final set, the impressive Murray looked to hold the upper hand throughout and had Federer regularly in all sorts of trouble on his own serve.

However, Murray had to wait until the 11th game of the set to finally make it count as, after failing to make the most of six break points previously in the set, it was lucky number seven to take a 5-4 lead. He then held his serve to clinch victory.

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