Great!!!!  But due respect to Kendrick for an excellent match ! (in parts!)  MEGA PHEW  !!!!!!

ltbobby wrote:

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thats ok happy to oblige! i'll do the other matches too if i can! (hope there are more than 1).
Anyone know when he plays next?

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So Andy made it through to the second round with a win in four sets over Robert Kendrick despite failing to execute his game plan in what should have been a straight-forward match. In defeat the american displayed plenty of talent and wasn't far short of causing a real upset over the in-form Murray. While Andy looked the more accomplished player, deploying a variety of shots, changes of pace and direction, he was unwilling to dictate the play, seemingly prepared to let Kendrick determine events, and the course of the match reflected the ebb and flow of Kendrick's level of performance.

Murray started well, playing controlled tennis, few unforced errors in a comfortable opening set largely determined by Kendrick's struggle to win points on his second serve, only 27% in his favour. Kendrick's approach was ultra aggressive, huge forehands crosscourt, fierce backhands down the line, plenty of winners, plenty of wild errors.

At the start of the second set Kendrick reached breakpoint on Andy's serve for the first time and was presented with a double fault. Kendrick served beautifully in the second set 85% of first serves in play. He attacked the net behind heavy groundtrokes winning 8 out of 10 and took every opportunity to dominate the rallies; few signs of the unforced errors of the first set in a near perfect display from the american. In contrast Murray had got careless, another double fault gifted Robert the crucial second break in a set of desperately poor serving; just 36% of first serves in play as Kendrick's returns dominated the Murray serve.

Kendrick got an early break in the third but sustained pressure from Andy eventually produced the break back as Kendrick's first serve went missing. Murray just about managed to hold his own serve from then on, having decided to cut the pace of his first delivery for fear of the brutal treatment his second was receiving from Kendrick; a series of outstanding backhand returns crosscourt for clean winners taking advantage of poor second serves, predictable, short and lacking pace. Serving at 3-4 Kendrick came up with some superb tennis to save breakpoints but Murray kept creating opportunities and eventually got the break, then held for the set.

Kendrick's form fell away in the fourth, he was soon 0-5 down only to rediscover the play of the second set with the match virtually over, breaking twice for 3-5 but a couple of poor forehands and it was three match points for Murray, on the third Kendrick produced a wild double fault to end a fascinating, and at times alarming, match.

Murray did enough to win but he relied heavily on Kendrick's errors and failed to serve with any authority. While Kendrick was never likely to sustain his attacking brilliance throughout the match, he might well have managed three hot sets and two cold ones, in which case Andy would have been in real trouble. As it was, Kendrick's 57 winners weren't quite enough on a day when he produced 56 unforced errors. Some lovely backhands down the line from Andy in a match when not much else was going right, he argued with the umpire over reasonable decisions - no clear errors from the officials this time, the forehand misfired and his passing shots started to be terribly predictable on those occasions when they made it past the net.

Faced with an opponent playing Tursunov style tennis, and not too dissimilar from the approach Gonzalez is likely to adopt should they meet later on in the tournament, Andy was far too passive, doing little to prevent Kendrick from simply blasting more winners. For all Kendrick's inspired, and at times reckless, attacking play, it was evident that he was far less comfortable playing defence, failing to get into position so he could keep the ball in play, unconvincing attempts to return fast serves from the scot; so it was it strange to see Andy play into Robert's hands in the hope that the numbers would eventually fall in his favour, when he could have adopted the tactics that worked well in his recent matches against Tursunov and Moya, denying them their natural game by dominating the points from the start.

The stats show Andy winning 46% of points on second serve but there were spells when return after return was flying past Murray for a clean winner. It was surprising Andy wasn't more ambitious on second serve, taking the fight to an opponent who was out to attack anything short. Instead he chose to reduce the pace of his first serve to the point where it was hard to distinguish it from a second serve. In truth this was a horrible serving display regardless of what the stats might imply.

Once again the Murray return game did enough to compensate for some poor serving but the signs for the rest of the tournament were not that hopeful; he'll need to improve considerably if he's to progress into the second week.

Thanks Kundalini, and ltbobby, it was one of those matches last night where the stats and the scoreboard just doesn't tell you what's going on so your comments are greatly appreciated.

Hopefully Andy can improve his serve by tomorrow.