London 2012 Olympics: Terrific tiebreaks take Andy Murray and Laura Robson to final and medal glory

By ALIX RAMSAY
Published on 04/08/2012 21:32

TWO finals, two medals guaranteed – no wonder Judy Murray looked ecstatic. Her wee boy had just matched his singles achievement by reaching the mixed doubles final as, together with Laura Robson, he beat the German team of Christopher Kas and Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-7, 10-7.

Much as the focus of attention has fallen on the Scot, but Robson more than did her part yesterday. Yes, there were times when she faltered in the high-pressure moments, but with Murray to shepherd her every step of the way, she shook off the nerves and welted her groundstrokes and cracked her volleys.

The British pair raced away to an early lead, but once pegged by the Germans, they pulled off their now trademark winning performance in the match tiebreak. They had done just that in the quarter-final against Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur in the quarter-final earlier in the day.

“We played really, really well at the end of the match tiebreaks,” Murray said. “When it’s been tight, we just played really well, hit some great returns. Laura at the end came up with I think seven, six points, a couple of reflex shots. I served well in the super breaker. Hit a couple of aces at maybe 5-4 or 6-5 or something. We just played really well.”

As preparations go for a major singles final, yesterday was a little unusual for Murray but it did not seem to matter. He was as fired-up for the mixed doubles as he had been for the singles and is going into both of today’s matches with exactly the same attitude.

“To be guaranteed a couple of medals going into the last day is excellent,” Murray said. “I wasn’t expecting that. Maybe in one, but certainly not two. For me both matches are very important tomorrow.

“I’d love to win two golds. I’d obviously prefer one gold than two

silvers. It’s going to be a tough day, but I’m looking forward to it.”