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Andy Murray returns a shot to Richard Gasquet during the semifinals of the Sony Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 29, 2013 in Key Biscayne, Florida. (Getty Images)
After a week-long tennis extravaganza, it has finally come down to this, the big final between second-seed Andy Murray and third-seed David Ferrer. Both players have been in great form to put themselves just one short of a Masters title triumph.
Andy Murray defeated Grigor Dimitrov and Marin Cilic on the way to the final and in the semifinal match of the tournament, he defeated Richard Gasquet, who was in sublime touch. Gasquet drew first blood by winning the opening set in the tie-breaker 6-7 (3). But the Scot was in no mood to give away his title hopes and put the match in balance, after winning the second set 6-1, quite handsomely.
In the deciding set, a resilient Murray kept Gasquet at bay to clinch the set and the match 6-2. Murray, after overcoming from initial jitters capitalized on half chances in the match. He broke Gasquet’s serve five times and made 26 unforced errors, complimented by 35 winners in the match.
Murray, who will play his second Miami Masters final said, “The first set was a tough one to lose, because I obviously served for the set. Then at the end of the set, you look up at the stats and I had hit over 20 winners and lost the set. So I realized I had to cut out the unforced errors. I did a good job of that. Halfway through the second set, I started to find the right way to play and the right shots to go for. I did well after that.”
Murray’s opponent in the Miami Masters’ final, David Ferrer, ended the dream-run of Tommy Haas in the tournament. Haas, who played superbly through the whole tournament, started the match strongly to win the opening set 4-6. Ferrer regrouped to clinch the next two sets pretty easily 6-2 and 6-3.
Ferrer said, “I tried to fight every point. I knew Tommy; in the third set he was a little bit more tired than me. I knew that. But when I started the third set, I served very badly. But anyway, I tried to forget and to play, focus every point.”
Murray enjoys a superior record of six wins compared to Ferrer’s five. The match against Murray is going to be a tough task for the Spaniard, who has registered only one win over the Scot in hard court.
