Cincinnati Masters

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray is about to get underway in his final tournament before the US Open.

He's playing David Nalbandian, who he's tied with at 2-2 in the head-to-head. Murray's won the last two encounters.

Let's hope for a better outcome than last week!

Coverage on Sky Sports 4.

[Sir David Gray]

Not a good start.

Nalbandian breaks Murray's serve in the first game. :boo hoo:

[Sir David Gray]

Murray takes the first set, 6-4, after being a break down at 4-3.

Murray's just broken Nalbandian in the second game of the second set and is serving at 2-0 up. :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Murray wins 6-4 6-1 against David Nalbandian, to win his first hard court match since the Australian Open in January.

He'll now play either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Alex Bogomolov Jr. in round three.

[Jonnyboy]

Murray wins 6-4 6-1 against David Nalbandian, to win his first hard court match since the Australian Open in January.

He'll now play either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Alex Bogomolov Jr. in round three.

:aok:

C'mon Andy

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray just starting his 3rd round tie against Alex Bogomolov Jr.

Bogomolov Jr. beat Murray the last time they played, earlier this year in Miami, so it will be interesting to see how Murray copes this time and what he has learned.

Murray's just broken serve in the opening game of the match.

He's serving at 1-0 up in the first set.

Live coverage on Sky Sports 4.

[Sir David Gray]

First set to Murray, 6-2. :thumbsup:

[Sir David Gray]

Murray wins 6-2 7-5.

Murray made that second set a lot more tricky than it should have been but he's through in straight sets.

He'll now play either Gilles Simon or David Ferrer in the quarter finals tomorrow. :aok:

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray is in quarter final action today and takes on Gilles Simon in the first match of the day.

He'll be on court in around 10 minutes.

Once again, the coverage is on Sky Sports 4.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are also in action today and Djokovic is looking for his 56th win of the season to take him into his 17th semi final in his last 19 tournaments.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray beat Simon, 6-3 6-3.

He'll now play the winner of Rafael Nadal and Mardy Fish in tomorrow's semis.

At the moment it looks as if he'll be facing Fish as he won the first set 6-3 and has just broken Nadal in the second set to go 3-2 up.

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray will face Mardy Fish in the semi finals of the Cincinnati Masters tomorrow after he beat Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-4.

Fish has won their last 3 meetings, all last year, and the last of those wins came last year in Cincinnati.

Fish has been one of the players of the year in 2011 and it won't be an easy match for Murray.

I really can't call it either way.

[Sir David Gray]

A good win for Andy Murray today against Mardy Fish, 6-3 7-6.

He should have had the second set wrapped up easily but somehow continuously allowed Fish back in before eventually taking it on a tiebreak.

He'll now play Novak Djokovic in tomorrow's final, in what will be his first major final since the Australian Open.

Djokovic's opponent, Tomas Berdych, retired injured at the end of the first set after losing it 7-5. It will be his 10th final appearance this season.

I'd obviously love to see Murray win tomorrow and give Djokovic his second defeat of the year but if I'm honest, I don't really see that happening.

[Sir David Gray]

The Murray-Djokovic final is starting at 5.30pm this evening.

I won't see it but "Come on, Andy!" :aok:

Live coverage on Sky Sports 4.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Djokovic retires injured @ 0 3 in the 2nd set.
Tournament to Murray who took the 1st set

[Sir David Gray]

I didn't see any of the match but I'm not surprised that Djokovic retired. The signs were there that he wasn't in the best shape physically as he commented on that when Berdych retired against him in the semis yesterday.

I'm a bit surprised that he retired at the stage of the match that he did, though. With Murray only 3 games from victory, I would have thought it would have been better if he had finished the match.

It's not the way that Murray would have wanted to secure victory but a win's a win and with the US Open only eight days away, it's good that he's got this title under his belt. It's his first tournament victory since winning Queen's in June and his first victory in a hard court tournament since last year.

Hopefully this can give him the confidence and preparation that he needs to go into the US Open in the best possible shape. With Djokovic clearly struggling physically, Nadal not at his best and Federer looking quite vulnerable, hopefully this could be Murray's chance. :pray:

[greenlex]

I didn't see any of the match but I'm not surprised that Djokovic retired. The signs were there that he wasn't in the best shape physically as he commented on that when Berdych retired against him in the semis yesterday.

I'm a bit surprised that he retired at the stage of the match that he did, though. With Murray only 3 games from victory, I would have thought it would have been better if he had finished the match.

It's not the way that Murray would have wanted to secure victory but a win's a win and with the US Open only eight days away, it's good that he's got this title under his belt. It's his first tournament victory since winning Queen's in June and his first victory in a hard court tournament since last year.

Hopefully this can give him the confidence and preparation that he needs to go into the US Open in the best possible shape. With Djokovic clearly struggling physically, Nadal not at his best and Federer looking quite vulnerable, hopefully this could be Murray's chance. :pray:
Thats actually a pretty **** thing to do. Murray will be happy with the win but under those circumstances it wont be a ssweet. Three games? He could surely have carried on. WTF was wrong with him?

[Sir David Gray]

Thats actually a pretty **** thing to do. Murray will be happy with the win but under those circumstances it wont be a ssweet. Three games? He could surely have carried on. WTF was wrong with him?

He was obviously in a bit of discomfort with his shoulder as he got treatment from the physio earlier in the match but, to me, he didn't look as if he was in unbearable pain just before he decided to retire.

I suppose he'll know his body better than anyone and he'll not want to jeopardise his participation in the US Open either. In the grand scheme of things, this tournament was just a little warm up.

I heard a lot of people say that if it hadn't been a final, Djokovic would actually have pulled out of this match so he clearly wasn't in great shape, even beforehand. That is the one down side to having the kind of year that Djokovic has had. He's been in a lot of finals and has played a lot of tennis over the past seven or eight months and eventually it does take its toll.

Apart from anything else, I think he's just exhausted.

The one thing in his favour is that I don't think he's the type of person to retire, just because he's losing and especially not against Murray who he is good friends with.