Vintage Federer Ends Murray Hopes

To See Roger Federer back at his vintage best can only be a good thing for men’s tennis, even if it does prevent Andy Murray from making his fifth successive Australian Open semi final.

Just to watch the 16 time Grand Slam champion should be a privilege in itself, but at the age of 32, to see him playing this well again is something simply to behold and appreciate while we still can.

Federer was back to his very best to conquer Murray

Murray didn’t play badly, far from it as he battled tirelessly in his first big match since his back operation last September; however a rejuvenated Federer, now coached by childhood hero and former world number one Stefan Edberg, was at times simply unplayable.

By the end Murray’s lack of match practise evidently took its toll, as Federer gradually ground him down to claim a 6-3 6-4 6-7(6) 6-3 victory in 3 hours 20 minutes.   

The Swiss certainly showed the Edberg side to his game; his tactics of coming to the net on every opportunity was a breath of fresh air and could be a sign of even greater things to come.

He ran away with the first two sets and could have done the same in the third if it wasn’t for Murray’s gutsy effort, which left him exhausted by the end.  

“Andy played well and put pressure on me so I’m happy to win” said the Swiss after the match.  “I probably miss more break points than other guys but I kept my composure and kept the poker face and tonight it worked."

Federer will now re-ignite his historic rivalry with Rafael Nadal in Friday’s semi final, after the Spaniard earlier defeated Grigor Dimitrov in four sets.

As for Murray he later admitted he “wasn’t expecting to win the event” so soon after his back operation “I was proud of the way I fought, it’s tough because I haven’t played at this level and Roger played at a very high level, my body held up fairly well, I didn’t expect to feel perfect”

After last year’s disappointment, where Federer failed to make the final of a major for the first time since 2002 many wondered if he could challenge for an unprecedented 17^th Grand Slam; the first two sets of this match suggested otherwise and were nothing short of a Federer master class.

The Swiss only missed two first serves in three service games while Murray struggled to form any sort of rhythm. Federer was willing to be the aggressive player from the start and took his only break point of the set in the fourth game to lead 3-1.

Murray did well to hang on however Federer showed no signs of loosening his grip. Even his, at times, unpredictable backhand was inflicting all sorts of damage as the Swiss began to run Murray ragged by approaching the net on nearly every point.

The Brit never really had the chance to break back, as Federer kept him guessing on serve and rounded off an almost perfect set by holding to love, taking it in just 32 minutes.

There was little option for Murray other than he had to try and play more aggressive himself. The Brit forced his first chance to break in game four at 15-30 however Federer calmly stubbed it out.

In the following game the Swiss pounced, he continued to take the ball early and move forward which piled the pressure on Murray, who made two loose forehands to surrender the break.

Murray had opportunities to strike back as Federer’s first serve began to drop, however the Swiss still didn’t hand him a break point and when he claimed a two set lead it was always going to be a huge task for Murray to come back.

The match came close to spiralling away from Murray completely, as he was forced to save three break points at the start of the third.

Federer on the other hand was still holding serve with ease, every time Murray came through a tough service game the Swiss would quick hold to re-apply the pressure. At 4-4 that pressure finally told as a mix of Federer’s brilliance and two errors from Murray meant the Swiss would serve for the match.

However on the home straight Federer blinked, having not faced a break point all match the Swiss suddenly found himself 15-40 down as Murray found a timely response. For the first time Federer looked valuable and despite saving the first break point he couldn’t prevent the second going Murray’s way as an uncharacteristic error threw the Brit a lifeline.

For the entertainment factor a tiebreak was the best outcome, out of their eight previous breakers Federer had won seven of them. He looked set to improve that record as claimed an early mini-break to set up a 6-4 lead and double match point.

But Murray just would not lie down, swinging freely the Brit saved them both the first on his own serve the second on Federer’s, then with the momentum in his corner he seized his opportunity to take the set which was ended by another forehand error from Federer.

The question then was how much did Murray have left? In the first game of the forth he had a chance at 15-30 on the Federer serve but dragged a forehand passing shot agonisingly wide.

From then on Federer slowly but brutally increased his strangle hold, Murray fended off six break points in a marathon 20 minute just to level at 1-1, his grimacing expressions showed the pain he was now going through.

Murray continued to dig deep but eventually his resistance was broken, leading 4-3 Federer finally moved in for the kill allowing him the chance to serve for the match for the second time which he took with both hands finishing with an ace.  

If this Australian Open has taught us anything it’s that a 17^th Grand Slam for Federer isn’t out of the question, on this sort of form it’s almost within his reach.