Murray Marches In To Round Two

Maybe this is the year when Andy Murray can finally break his grand slam barrier and become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to hold one of the four slams. There still remains a large mountain to climb and much greater challenges than today’s opponent. But today’s performance showed he is definitely a contender for this year’s title with a chance of breaking the stranglehold of Nadal, Djokovic and Federer’s dominance at the majors.

Murray was the dominant player throughout the match

Murray was last of the top four seeds to open his Wimbledon campaign on centre court, after question marks were raised following a disrupted preparation to his grass court season with an early exit at the AEGON Championships. But today Murray was in unstoppable form as he comfortably despatched former world number three Nikolay Davydenko 6-1 6-1 6-4 in a match that never looked in any doubt.

Davydenko is not renowned for being the biggest of servers in the game but early on the Russian was relying heavily on his first serve to keep in touch with his younger opponent, serving two aces to hold in the first game. However in the baseline rallies Murray was far the superior player, as Davydenko didn’t possess the weapons to hurt the Brit’s game. After capturing a break in game three Murray was ruthless in a one sided fist set giving no free points to Davydenko while also flattening out his forehand which could prove a big weapon in the later rounds.

The second set was no different for Davydenko who couldn’t cope with Murray’s variety of shots on the grass court. Murray continued to be aggressive continuously punishing the Russian’s weak second serve, racing to a 3-0 lead in set two. Davydenko knew he had to take risks to even compete with Murray’s level but in doing so he only produced more errors in another 6-1 set.

Davydenko could have thrown in the towel at that point, but to his credit he finally produced some form which won him the ATP World Tour Finals three years ago. But once Murray had the break there was no looking back capping off a brilliant serving performance in a match with ten aces and no break points conceded.

After the match Murray said “I was hitting the ball very clean from the start and used my slice very well”. Next Murray is now likely to face big serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic in round two. 

Euro 2012 Round Up

Group A

On paper this was the weakest of the four groups containing no nations inside the top ten FIFA rankings. However after a 4-1 demolition of the Czech Republic and a point against co-hosts Poland Russia even looked an outside bet for the tournament. But a dramatic turn of events on the final round of fixtures saw the Russians eliminated after defeat to 2004 winners Greece who defied the odds sneaking through the group winning just one of three games.

 

Overall this was a difficult tournament for co-hosts Poland who are still without a win in European championship history. Impressive signs early on with Borussia Dortmund striker leading the way up front. However they failed to see off the Greeks in their opening game despite a man and goal advantage and another wasteful display against the Czech Republic ultimately cost them a place in the next round.   

	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goal For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Total Points
Czech Republic	2	0	1	4	5	-1	6
Greece	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Russia	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
Poland	0	2	1	2	3	-1	2

Group B

Without doubt the disappointment of the tournament so far has been Holland in a team full of individual egos who failed to register a single point in the competition. In their final group game the Dutch fell short to an exhibition from Cristiano Ronaldo as the world’s record signing finally hit top form at international level, meaning a Portugal side growing in confidence could be an outside bet for the tournament.

By far the stand out team in the group stages have been Germany with similar players to the world cup in South Africa who are now older and wiser they are my tip for the tournament. On paper this looked a tough group for the Germans but Joachim Löw’s team were in ominous form winning three out of three to comfortably top the group. Denmark are the team who can feel hard done by in this group after being drawn in a group with three top ten ranked teams but after beating Holland they will look back on a late defeat to Portugal that put them out.

    

   

	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For		Goals Against		Goal Difference		Points
Germany	3	0	0	5	2		+3		9
Portugal	2	0	1	5	4		+1		6
Denmark	1	0	2	4	5		-1		3
Holland	0	0	3	2	5		-3		0

Group C

Despite a 4-0 hammering of Ireland defending champions Spain haven’t been as convincing as we have come to expect. The absence of David Villa up front meant Spain started without a striker on the field in a 1-1 draw with Italy before a narrow 1-0 win over Croatia edged then over the line as group winners. In midfield they still have the best in the world but for them to take a third straight tournament Fernando Torres will need to be at the top of his game to get the goals. But as defending champions they are still the team to beat.

England’s opponents in the last eight will be Italy who have rediscovered some success that saw them lift the world cup in 2006.Their team this year consists of a solid defence with experienced players throughout the team, while Mario Balotelli’s mood could have a big impact on Italy’s fate. 

 

	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
Spain	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7
Italy	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
Croatia	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
Republic Of Ireland	0	0	3	1	9	-8	0

Group D

Winning the group has already exceeded expectations for England who showed good defensive displays against France and Ukraine, while proving character and attacking qualities in a 3-2 win over Sweden. For success in the rest of the tournament though England will need to keep Captain Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker fit who vitally bond the team together in midfield. While the defensive pairing of Terry and Lescott have also impressed. But if England are to win this competition Wayne Rooney will have to be on top of his game and provide the important goals.

France missed the chance to top the group after a 2-0 defeat to Sweden in the last fixture this means they will now meet Spain in the next round. Their success has been created on winning the midfield battle, but against Spain I feel they will only come second best while I also worry about an ordinary defence which could cost them. 

	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals For	Goals Against	Goal Difference	Points
England	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7
France	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Ukraine	1	0	2	2	4	-2	3
Sweden	1	0	2	5	5	0	3