ATP San Jose 2007 R2 - Murray v Pless

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

RE: ATP San Jose 2007 R2 - Murray v Pless

Sheddie · administrator

Tiebreak: (Murray serving 1st)

1-0: Good body serve from Murray

1-1: Murray forehand into the top of the net

1-2: Pless attacks the net, Murray doesn't get the lob quite right and it goes long

2-2: Pless return goes long

3-2: Murray attacks the net, a bit risky and Pless just misses with the pass

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

3-3
3-4
4-4 ace from our man
4-5 nooooooooooooo first minibreak goes to Pless.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

aria81 wrote:

TB time. This is so much harder than it should have been after the first set. Guess you have to give Pless credit for getting himself back into it but if Andy hadn't been broken so early it could have been a very different story. Lets just hope he takes it on the TB and doesn't need to go to 3.

1-1*

Amen to that. Keep up the first serves, Andy, for goodness' sake.

aria81 · Club Coach

Pless gets the mini break.

4-5*

aria81 · Club Coach

Andy gets the MB back but it's still set point to Pless on Andy's serve. An ace here would be good.

Pless wins the point. We're going to three.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

5-5 Andy gets mb straight back. phew
5-6 set point to Pless but m's turn to serve

Andy that was not in the script.

I'm going to call it a night and hope for good news come the morning.

Night all!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Night Bethan, I'll stick it out I think.

Come on, Andy, pull your socks up. This should never have gone to 3.

Sheddie · administrator

3-3: Pless throws in a kick serve and Murray's return goes long

3-4: Pless wrongfoots Murray with a forehand after another good serve

4-4: Ace out wide

4-5: Murray sends a forehand long and Pless has the first minibreak

5-5: Murray gets it straight back, great return and Pless sends a backhand long

5-6: Pless attacks the net and Murray misses the pass - getting a bit tight maybe

5-7: Murray attacks the net, plays a drop volley but Pless reads it, gets there and puts it away

To be honest, a set which Pless never really looked like winning until the business end of the breaker. Towards the end of the set he's been making a lot less unforced errors and has hit some quality forehands. He's served better throughout the set which has kept him in it. Murray's level has gone down, particularly on serve though he's also starting to make a few more errors, possibly frustration

aria81 · Club Coach

Pless holds to 30. :( I was hoping for an early break there to settle him down a bit. It's really important he holds here. C'mon Andy.

Sheddie · administrator

Andy hasn't really got his strategy right at the moment, he's playing too many shots to the Pless forehand. Ok, it was the shot which broke down a lot in the first set but now he's hitting more winners than errors off it.

Pless serving to start the 3rd:

15-0: Great forehand approach from the Dane, Murray can't do anything about that

30-0: Pless attacks the net and finishes things off with a drop volley, looking a lot more confident now

30-15: Murray takes charge of the point and finishes it off with a backhand volley winner

30-30: Murray sneaks in again, this time puts away a forehand volley

40-30: Ace out wide

Game: service winner

6-0, 6-7, *0-1

Sheddie · administrator

Murray serving:

15-0: Pless sends a backhand return wide, going cross-court

15-15: Murray in charge of the point but Pless defends superbly and in the end Murray nets a forehand going for too much

15-30: Murray sends an off forehand wide, bit of a careless error

30-30: timely ace down the T

40-30: Pless sends a backhand slice wide, going down the line

Game: Murray attacks the net, Pless goes wide with the pass. He hasn't had much success with passing shots today when Murray's come in.

6-0, 6-7, 1-1*

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

AM 1st serve 33%, KP 83% in this set so far

Sheddie · administrator

Pless serving:

15-0: Big 1st serve, wrong-footing forehand behind Murray. Murray gets it back but Pless puts the backhand volley away

30-0: Massive forehand winner from Pless

30-15: Pless' brain went on strike there, terrible attempt at a dropshot

30-30: double fault, half-chance here for Murray

40-30: Pless' volleying gets him out of trouble again, he's a big guy and covers the net really well. He puts away a forehand volley to get to game point.

Game: Service winner

6-0, 6-7, *1-2

aria81 · Club Coach

Andy's first serve percentage is still ridiculously low for a guy as good as him. I'm amazed how well he's done so far with such consistantly poor serving stats. Shows how good he really is.

Please break here Andy. I have a horrible feeling about this match and I'd feel better about it if you broke early.