maroonsox wrote:

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Andy Murray: World number 21 (possibly 22). Has a nice ring to it.

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So Andy made it through to the semi-finals of a Masters event for the first time by defeating Jarkko Nieminen in three sets in a match of desperately poor serving, shredded nerves and by the end, two exhausted players.

Nieminen started well, imposing himself on the rallies but simply could not convert on any of his six break point opportunities early in the set despite Murray offering him chance after chance to attack second serves. Somehow neither player managed to break during those first seven games but the vulnerability on serve was clear: Murray was landing 1 in 3 of his first serves and regularly double-faulting on second while Nieminen's second serve was treated with contempt by Murray, stepping in on the return to fire forehands deep then dashing into the net to put away a winning volley.

The rallies were long, with Nieminen mixing up aggressive groundstrokes with spells of throwing junk at Andy in the hope of inviting an error. Jarkko was exceptional overhead, finishing points with confident smashes even close to the baseline. Andy's groundstrokes lacked the zip of the Moya match and he struggled to find a winning combination once the rally developed.

Having recovered from 0-40 on serve thanks to a couple of poor errors from Andy, Nieminen finally conceded the first break of serve to give Murray a 5-3 lead. Serving for the set, the nerves got to Andy; only one first serve all game, one double fault and three shocking errors gifting Jarkko the break back. Then serving to stay in the set Jarkko failed to find a first serve in four attempts, Murray's fierce returns doing the rest as he broke to love to take the first set 6-4.

If 38% of first serves in play in the first set was bad, the second set was even worse. Murray started with a horrendous service game to encourage Nieminen who then held to make it 2-0. Andy held, broke back, then lost his serve once again, only to break again, then hold, then break for 5-3. Serving for the match the nerves returned as Murray made a terrible mess of an easy smash, allowing Nieminen to pass, then finally double-faulted. By this point Andy looked a wreck, unable to do anything right on serve and now short of confidence on the return too. Jarkko was generous enough to allow Andy to hold for 6-5 but when the tiebreak came Murray failed to win a single point, largely due to his own errors.

The third set started with a break of serve. This time it was Nieminen who conceded his serve to love. Murray still couldn't land a first serve regardless of whether he was going for speed or merely trying to kick one out wide. Regardless he kept going, finding the occasional brilliant shot, but mostly surviving on errors from a clearly tiring Nieminen. Andy got the crucial double break then served for the match. Inevitably his game collapsed once more but Jarkko was too exhausted to hold his own serve, even missing a routine overhead and Murray broke to take his place in the semi-final.

It was hard to believe this was a best of three sets match, both players looked as though they had contested five tight sets. Murray won despite a first serve percentage of 37% with 6 aces and 9 double faults. He failed to cope with the pressure of serving out sets and then the match, and let the frustration get to him in the second set when he still had the opportunity to finish the match either by breaking again or in the tiebreak.

Tactically this was a difficult match as both players were uncertain about whether to attack or play safe leading to long passive rallies ended by a sudden injection of pace or careless unforced error. Nieminen looked impressive when he unleashed his flat double-handed backhand, and had spells of dismissing the Murray second serve for outright winners on the return. Murray displayed a fine touch at the net but made a large number of errors on seemingly routine groundstrokes. The most encouraging sign was the sustained aggression against Jarkko's weak second serve, which eventually lead to him reducing the pace on his first just so he could avoid the punishment.

As for Brad Gilbert, he looked a nervous wreck too; barely able to watch as Andy's serve disintegrated at key moments in the match.