Much, much, much better performance from Murray, although it's not as good as the commentators on Masters Series TV are saying it was... he did enough to win the match and defended well, but wasn't as aggressive as they think he was, although much more aggressive than we have seen from him at times.

Murray played a decent match, but Djokovic played a terrible one for the most part... but when he got his act together for a few games, he looked the better player and Murray couldn't hang with him... fortunately this Djokovic only appeared very briefly and then disappeared again when he wasted the set point.

The match was on Djokovic's racket, and he made far too many errors, probably more than he normally does in a tournament, but a great win for Murray and he's into the semi finals now.

Gasquet or Nadal? Not fancying either, but although this may sound strange, I'd rather he played Nadal than Gasquet... because Murray has proved in the past he can hang with Nadal on a hard court and should have won the 2 meeting between them on the surface, and while he was destroyed by him on a grass court, Nadal isn't in that form and hasn't looked great so far this week.

Gasquet though has beaten Murray easily on a hard court before, and even though Murray beat Gasquet at Wimbledon with the fantastic comeback, what's forgotten is that Gasquet outclassed Murray until he choked, and I'd fear the same would happen here.

Good performance, with a few wobbles.
Great result, and a very important one psychologically.

Had a feeling he might do it tonight, and decided to put my money where my mouth was. Unfortunately, I bet on a 2-1 win! Still, I'll easily forgive Andy for wrapping it up in two.

Andy Murray gained his first win over Novak Djokovic, beating him 6-3 7-6(3) to move into the semi-finals in Toronto. In a close contest, it was errors from the world number 3 that determined the outcome; the Serb's forehand misfiring for much of the match, while two woeful drop shots cost Novak the tiebreak.

Once again Murray's first serve let him down, a shocking 41% of first serves in play with just two aces, but he was more ambitious than usual on his second serve, winning 63% of the points and conceded his serve just twice.

There were break points in the first three games of the match. Murray saved one in each of his two service games, while Djokovic started slowly on his own serve, a double fault followed by a terrible drop shot that was punished by Andy, left him facing three break points. Novak saved one but a loose forehand into the net cost him the opening break.

Despite serving below 50% Andy held comfortably for the rest of the set, even managing to close out the set without a single first serve. Novak was simply unable to punish the Murray second serve, winning just three of sixteen points off the usually vulnerable delivery. While Djokovic was the more aggressive player, Andy's defence was good enough to keep him at bay.

Into the second set Murray broke immediately, chasing across his baseline to fire a couple of fierce forehand passing shots that Novak couldn't deal with. But Djokovic broke for the first time as Murray failed to find any penetration on his serve, eventually forced wide on the defensive and netting a backhand. Three poor forehands in a row left Novak in trouble when serving at 2-2. Andy took on the second serve and was rewarded as the world number 3 netted a forehand.

At 4-2 Novak saved break point with a smash at the third attempt, having twice hit the ball straight back to Murray who had a half chance to come up with an amazing lob; for once there was no Murray magic and Djokovic took the next eight points; no first serves for Murray and three poor backhands costing him the lead. At 4-4 an inspired forehand return crosscourt for an outright winner off a first serve seemed to give Andy the edge but his deep return was long and Novak held on. Serving to stay in the set, Andy needed the assistance of yet another error from Djokovic's forehand to save set point.

The tiebreak began with a terrible drop shot from Novak, failing to make it over the net. Andy then fired a forehand long with the point seemingly won. A run of five points gave Murray a healthy position, three forehand errors from Novak and another shocking drop shot, this time wide. Andy thought he might have landed a backhand down the line to take the match but his challenge was incorrect. Novak's volley long ending a tight contest in which Murray's superior defence had the edge over Djokovic's somewhat off-form attack.

A great win for Murray, but he was fortunate that the Serbian star was below his usual level. Andy gave one of his best defensive displays but those hoping for a more aggressive Murray were to be disappointed by his passive shot selection, if not the ultimate outcome. Few aggressive shots from the british number one, opting instead to sit deep behind his baseline and frustrate his opponent. When he did go for the trademark backhand, Andy typically missed narrowly.

So a real breakthrough but still the sense that Andy will have to do a lot more if he is to challenge Novak in the future.



-- Edited by kundalini at 03:00, 2008-07-26

What a great piece of news to wake up to, I like Madeline was utterly convinved Djoko would win so I'm very pleasantly surprised!

It's Nadal in the semis, after he beat Gasquet in 3. Another very tall order, and if Andy finds a way past him, then I'll have thoroughly learnt my lesson and never doubt him again!!

steven wrote:

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Had to follow this on AM.com again because I had MS TV going and lots of pick 'em spreadsheets I was working on (or trying to!) open. He proved brilliantly what he can do if he goes for it and keeps his concentration, never mind if Nole didn't play that well. Now he just has to drill into himself to do that kind of thing every time!

Having seen a few clips of how frighteningly well Dammit is playing this week, the semi is going to be a much bigger challenge whoever he faces there.

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Is the pickem up yet - I've only got another hour in which I can enter

Excellent and unexpected news to discover this morning - I third the thanks to FD for the detailed commentary.