His route through to his seventh successive Wimbledon
quarter-final has been his simplest one yet, even more so than the one which
began his run to the title twelve months ago.
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| Murray advances to his 6th successive Wimbledon quarter-final |
The Brit’s game looks every bit as good, if not better, than
it was back then and that’s just about as bigger compliment you can give him
considering he only dropped three sets in the whole tournament last year.
This time around it’s a similar story; Murray hasn’t lost a
set in any of his first four matches and is building an invincible aura at SW19
which has been formed by his 17 match winning streak at the all England club.
The latest man to challenge Murray’s superiority was his
fourth round opponent Kevin Anderson, who proved the Brit’s biggest test of the
Championships in more ways than one.
At 6 ft. 8in’s the South African is a tricky match for
anyone especially on a grass court. However against Murray, Anderson’s giant
serves and thumping groundstrokes were made to look a little ordinary as the
Brit progressed 6-4 6-3 7-6(6) in a rain interrupted encounter which required
the roof of Centre Court.
“When it was outdoors I played very well and was in a good
position, but when we came indoors he was striking the ball better and serving
better and I was dropping (the ball) shorter," Murray said after the
match. “That meant there was a lot more running at the end because he was
playing very well."
At 28 years of age Anderson is playing the best tennis of
his career and recently reached his highest ever ranking of 18 in the world. But
if the South African didn’t already know he soon found out that playing Murray
at Wimbledon if one of the toughest tests in tennis.
Murray is renowned for his brilliant return of serve; time
and time again the Brit simply chipped back the menacing Anderson bullet to
take away the South African’s biggest weapon. A break of serve for Murray in
the third game was decisive as the Brit was impeccable on his own serve, not
once facing a break point, as he sealed the first set in 43 minutes.
The second appeared to be going the same way as Murray
ruthlessly raced into a 3-0 lead with a double break. His shot selection was
exquisite, his dainty slice and pounding groundstrokes were played at just the
right time helping him out manoeuvre his opponent from the back of the court.
Anderson needed help from somewhere and he got some from the
unpredictable weather which had troubled the schedule throughout the day. Play
was stopped, the roof was closed and 20 minutes later the match nearly turned.
They resumed with Murray stuck in second gear and he was
broken immediately allowing Anderson back in the set which appeared all but
lost before the delay. The South African then held serve to make it 3-2 before
squandering a break point chance in the following game which Murray escaped from
with his lead still intact.
That proved a missed opportunity for Anderson as the Brit
abruptly rediscovered the form he had displayed before the rain interval.
Murray broke his opponent when leading 5-3 to form a two set cushion, a
position he has only lost from once in his career.
However Anderson wasn’t ready to throw in the towel and
under the roof it was as if his game had been transformed. The obvious change
was the acoustics created by the indoor area, but as well as the sound
Anderson’s shots appeared to carry more purpose
and threat as the South African adopted a more aggressive, approach the
net strategy.
That caused problems
for Murray but he remained as confident as ever on his own serve, making the
tie-break an inevitable outcome. To both players’ credit the crowd were treated
to the best tennis of the match as Murray finally prevailed 8-6. He will play
Gregor Dimitrov in the quarterfinal on Wednesday.
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