Cincinnati Masters 2008 QF: Andy vs Carlos Moyá

Jack Buxton · Club Coach

RE: Cincinnati Masters 2008 QF: Andy vs Carlos Moyá

indiana · Tennis legend

Is it any wonder Ceefax Sport only accepts letters these days, not texts or emails !!

Guess they used to get snowed under by complaints. It's not just tennis, some of their other sports coverage is as appaling and inaccurate and misleadingly titled and....

Thanks for great coverage FD. I was watching the match from the end of the second set, and it was good to come on here and relive some of the points with your commentary.

Well, I missed the bad part, and it seems to have been very bad. So much for my feelings that the Andy waking up issue was a thing of the past. I guess we've found what time he wakens up, whatever time was 2-0, 40-15 down in the second set ! But he won't always get away with such a lacklustre start.

Until the near the end, when I agree Moya did seem to give it up a bit, the commentators made very clear the match was all about Andy's levels, low to start with then just absolutely switched up.

Was taking the ball really impressively early, and often giving Moya just no time on the ball. Off-day for the drop shots. Didn't seem to be overdoing them either today, just when he did they were pretty awful. Serve was working well on what I saw, especially compared to how it is sometimes, but again I reckon I missed the bad part.

I reckon he should beat Karlovic ( or Kohlschreiber ). If it is Karlovic though, he just cannot afford silly half-asleep service games eg 2 DF's, lose forehand etc to hand a break. Because it isn't that easy to break back !!

indiana · Tennis legend

Jack Buxton wrote:

woohoo - get in - I had stopped posting because i really thought i had jinxed him !

Well, we might allow you to post outside Andy's matches ! smile

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Interesting how Andy totally changed his approach on 2nd serve midway through the match, starting to hit some harder ones that Moya couldn't deal with. Yes there were a lot of double faults but his percentage won on 2nd improved significantly from 36% (first set - no dfs) when just kicking them in and letting Carlos take a big swing to 50% (2nd set - 4dfs) then up to 75% (3rd set - dfs).

Also worth saying that Moya's level dropped alarmingly and he appeared to have given up by the end.

steven · Tennis legend

LOL I think the BBC are anticipating his first AMS Final.

By the way, Andy will now be 5th (yes, 5th!) in the ATP Race on Monday - he overtook Duckboy, Flake and Stani last week and the Moya win now takes him ahead of Pics Ferrer.

If he gets much further this week, he'll be right up Davydenko's ... (though he can't overtake him this week, I don't think)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:

Just seen the BBC live text report (not a patch on mine...), and they say it's Murray first Masters Series SF...

Have they forgotten last week already?

It's Murray's first sojourn into the semi-finals in the Cincinnati Masters....

Sorry to have to take issue with you & the others, FD, but I read that statement as meaning that it was Andy's first appearance in a Cincy SF, not in Masters Series SFs generally, so it's perfectly correct. That said, I have fired off an e-mail to the Beeb complaining about the journo's repeated misuse of the word "sojourn" (instead of "appearance", as I've said, in that instance & something like "foray" - "Moyá has made plenty of sojourns to the net so far in this match" - earlier in the report!

). Not expecting an acknowledgement, though... cry

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Are you sure they haven't just corrected it, Stircrazy? Because somebody on MTF commented on it as well, saying it was on 5Live. I didn't see or hear it myself.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

I'm 99% sure it was it was his first sojourn into a Masters Series semi final when I looked at it...

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Andy Murray overcame a desperately slow start to beat Carlos Moya 2-6 6-3 6-1 to move into the semi-finals in Cincinnati where he will meet the croatian giant Ivo Karlovic.

Four second serves, two punished by aggressive forehand returns by Moya, two ending in routine groundstrokes dumped in the net by Andy, as he conceded his initial service game to love. Carlos continued to dominate, serving well and striking his forehand with real purpose. A second break of serve emphasised the difference between the players; Andy unable to make any impact on the Moya serve, while Carlos made room to take on yet another vulnerable second serve.

Murray started the second set in similar fashion, broken straight away and was soon in deep trouble 15-40 down at 0-2. An ace followed by an inspired forehand up the line after a decent serve, rescued him and there followed an extraordinary turn around as Murray won 18 of the next 19 points; Andy's form returning just as Carlos' level dropped alarmingly; indeed it was 8 unforced errors from the spaniard as he twice conceded his serve to love.

A double fault left Andy break point down when serving for the set but an ace got him out of trouble and he was soon 4-0 up in the third set as Moya seemed like a man who had been out in the sun too long. Murray was still struggling to get his first serve in play though a change in approach on second was clearly evident; going for faster sliced serves rather than the slow kickers that Moya had punished in the opening set.

By the end Andy was in near total control, while Carlos appeared to want to get off the court as fast as possible. 2-6 6-3 6-1 the final scoreline.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:

I'm 99% sure it was it was his first sojourn into a Masters Series semi final when I looked at it...

Yep, you are right. I was just looking at the 606 board, posting at the time it happened, and they commented on it also, bring forth this response from the "journalist" responsible:

comment by Pranav S - BBC Sport (U5268639)

posted 4 Hours Ago

Apologies all, I did actually mean his first Cincinnati Masters semi-final appearance - the copy has now been changed.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Madeline wrote:

Are you sure they haven't just corrected it, Stircrazy? Because somebody on MTF commented on it as well, saying it was on 5Live. I didn't see or hear it myself.

I was planning to reply to this post alone, but I see there have been further developments & the "mystery" has been resolved. I was going to say that there was obviously no way I could be sure the statement hadn't been corrected between the version on which FD commented & the sentence I copied from the text commentary & pasted on here. That said, the only time I can be bothered to check on the utterances of the mostly unpleasant, uncouth, ill-mannered & foul-mouthed denizens of MTF is when there's a dearth of updates on the progress of Brits in the various lesser tournaments in far-flung (& not so far-flung!) parts of the globe from more palatable sources. I was, however, sufficiently intrigued by the comments of FD & others on here to go & check the Beeb's text commentary for myself. I wish to go on record as being the last person to claim to carry a torch for our N° 1 broadcaster & defend its infallibility.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I read everything about Andy. Even on MTF

Edit: Not strictly true when I think about it - I mostly avoid 606 and one other. . .

-- Edited by Madeline at 16:49, 2008-08-02