Japan Open Tennis: Andy Murray’s fine form goes on in doubles and singles

Published on Friday 7 October 2011 02:32

Andy Murray’s fine Far East form continued yesterday with a stylish 6-1, 6-2 victory inside an hour over Alex Bogomolov Jnr in the second round of the Japan Open.

The Scot, who landed the Thailand Open title on Sunday, took only 58 minutes to swat aside the American for his 18th win in his past 19 matches, leaving him plenty of energy to later team up with brother Jamie in the doubles quarter-finals for a 6-3, 6-4 win over Japanese pair Tatsuma Ito and Kei Nishikori. They now face a tough semi-final against Serbia’s Viktor Troicki and Dutchman Robin Haase.

Murray, seeded second in the singles, had made hard work of beating Marcos Baghdatis in the opening round 24 hours earlier, but was in no mood to hang around as he broke Bogomolov five times to seal victory.

Murray, who served 11 aces, relished the warm conditions after playing Baghdatis under the closed roof, and did not face a single break point, winning 95 per cent of points on his first serve. The American struggled badly on his own delivery, the world No 4 winning 71 per cent of points on the American’s second serve. He broke three times in the opening set and twice in the second as his 28-year-old opponent was blown away.

Murray – who is in the opposite half of the draw to Tokyo top seed Rafael Nadal – faces a test in the quarter-finals against Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-6, 6-2 under floodlights in yesterday’s final singles match. It will be the last of the four quarter-final matches on Centre Court.

Nadal ran hard-serving Canadian Milos Raonic ragged in a 7-5, 6-3 victory to secure his place in the quarter-finals.

Defending champion Nadal will face Santiago Giraldo next after the Colombian beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6 to reach the last eight of the $1.34 million hardcourt event.

“It’s not fun if you can’t touch the ball,” Nadal told reporters after dashing off to the practice court following his match. “His first two service games I didn’t win a point.

“But it’s fantastic mental practice to try to stay focused on your serve and to wait for your chances on the return. Today I didn’t have one break point on my serve, which is a very positive thing.”

Nadal took a tight first set when Raonic’s biggest weapon let him down at a crucial time, the 20-year-old double-faulting before slicing a volley long on a charge to the net. The Canadian, making his return to the men’s tour after surgery on a hip injury sustained at Wimbledon, appeared sapped of strength in the second set as the afternoon wore on and, with Nadal pulling the strings in almost every rally, Raonic gifted the Spaniard a break for 4-2 with a shanked forehand.

Nadal, playing his first tournament since helping Spain reach the Davis Cup final last month, quickly moved in for the kill, ripping a forehand into the corner to finish the job.

“The match was difficult but not very hard physically,” the ten-times grand slam singles title winner said. “He had a lot of free points on his serve so I still felt fresh. I had a day off yesterday so we decided I could get some practice.”

Nadal’s Spanish team-mate David Ferrer made hard work of reaching the last eight, the third seed grinding out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden. Ferrer, Japan Open winner in 2007, will play seventh-seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic next.

Related Articles

• Murrays through in Japan Open doubles

  Andy and Jamie Murray booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open after battling for a three-set victory in their first-round doubles clash against Pablo Andujar and Milos Raonic.

  0 Comments