Cincinnati Masters

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray is through to the semi finals at Cincinnati. He beat Julien Benneteau in three sets.

Murray lost the first set, despite being 3-2 up with a break of serve. Benneteau broke straight back and eventually won the set 6-4 after Murray threw in a horrendous double fault on set point (his sixth double fault of the set).

Murray looked to be heading out when Benneteau broke him at the start of the second set to lead 2-0. But Murray soon woke up and won a gigantic point to break back at 1-2 (I believe they were saying afterwards that it was 53 strokes, which is absolutely amazing). He never really looked back from that moment on as he rattled off the next three games and eventually levelled the match by taking the set, 6-3.

The deciding set wasn't really much of a contest as Benneteau had really begun to crumble by this point. Murray won it 6-1 to book his place in the last four.

It was by no means his greatest performance but sometimes it's all about finding a way to win. No sports team or individual can possibly play their best, every single time that they perform. But when the best players and teams aren't on top of their game, they normally find a way to dig deep and get a win and that's exactly what Murray did today.

He will now play either Roger Federer or Lleyton Hewitt in tomorrow's semis. It looks as though it will be Federer that he will be playing as he currently leads 6-3 3-2.

It would be a great test for Murray as he looks to get closer to that world number 1 spot.

[J-C]

Andy Murray is through to the semi finals at Cincinnati. He beat Julien Benneteau in three sets.

Murray lost the first set, despite being 3-2 up with a break of serve. Benneteau broke straight back and eventually won the set 6-4 after Murray threw in a horrendous double fault on set point (his sixth double fault of the set).

Murray looked to be heading out when Benneteau broke him at the start of the second set to lead 2-0. But Murray soon woke up and won a gigantic point to break back at 1-2 (I believe they were saying afterwards that it was 53 strokes, which is absolutely amazing). He never really looked back from that moment on as he rattled off the next three games and eventually levelled the match by taking the set, 6-3.

The deciding set wasn't really much of a contest as Benneteau had really begun to crumble by this point. Murray won it 6-1 to book his place in the last four.

It was by no means his greatest performance but sometimes it's all about finding a way to win. No sports team or individual can possibly play their best, every single time that they perform. But when the best players and teams aren't on top of their game, they normally find a way to dig deep and get a win and that's exactly what Murray did today.

He will now play either Roger Federer or Lleyton Hewitt in tomorrow's semis. It looks as though it will be Federer that he will be playing as he currently leads 6-3 3-2.

It would be a great test for Murray as he looks to get closer to that world number 1 spot.


Murray seems to be a slow starter in most of his games, or he loses concentration every now and then. This seems to be a part of his game he has to work on, also I think he needs to be more aggressive and play his shots more, instead of waiting for his opponent to give him the opening to score the point.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray seems to be a slow starter in most of his games, or he loses concentration every now and then. This seems to be a part of his game he has to work on, also I think he needs to be more aggressive and play his shots more, instead of waiting for his opponent to give him the opening to score the point.

That is the one criticism that is levelled at Murray every now and again.

He is such a fantastic defensive player and he is usually able to break down his opponent just by his sheer athleticism and by constantly being able to get the ball back into play.

However, when someone plays him at his own game, he does struggle from time to time. I feel that he should have been more aggressive against Roddick at Wimbledon and he should have been more aggressive against Benneteau last night.

He is more than capable of producing attacking, aggressive shots when he wants to.

The most important thing, from Murray's perspective, is that he finishes each match with a "W" against his name and if he manages that, I don't suppose that he'll be too bothered how he manages to acheive that "W".

[dHFCe]

Murray lost first set 6-2

[Sir David Gray]

Federer has been outstanding so far, if he keeps this up, the match should be over pretty soon.

[Sir David Gray]

Federer wins 6-2 7-6. Murray lost it through a double fault.

No complaints at all with the result, the better man won. Although he was better in the second set, Murray was a little out of sorts tonight and didn't really have any answer to Federer's shots.

Murray has just over a week now to prepare for the US Open. Hopefully he can go one step further than last year.

[hibbybob]

At least he held on till 8.30 when it was too late to switch over to the X Factor!!