Second seed Andy Murray put up an impressive performance to beat the 10th seeded Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to canter into his third Wimbledon final in London on Friday. The 2013 champion needed 1 hour 57 minutes for the win over the 2010 runner-up.
This is Murray’s third consecutive Major final this year after having lost both the Australian Open and the French Open finals to the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. On Sunday, he will meet Grand Slam final debutant Milos Raonic who edged past seven-time winner Roger Federer 6-3, 6(3)-7, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the other semi-final.
Match details:
The burgeoning confidence and the improved game after teaming up with former mentor Ivan Lendl for the second time in his career were visible for Andy Murray. If his passing game was already good then it has become far sharper than what it was before. His forecourt game too looked supremely polished and whenever the Scot came to the net, he hardly faltered.
Unlike his opponent on the opposite side of the net, Murray was excellent at grabbing his chances. Having won his last four matches against the Czech, Andy came prepared and it was evident. While the two-time Grand Slam champion was even breaking out into rare smiles, the 2010 runner-up was the one who seemed flustered and under a copious amount of pressure.
The stats showed Murray’s preparedness. He finished with just 9 unforced errors that confirmed how solid he was throughout the match while Berdych threw in 21 more errors.
The 10th seed, however, was the aggressor and had 32 winners compared to Murray’s 20 but it was his inability to convert even half-chances that did him in.
The Czech was able to get back on level terms with Murray after conceding an early break in the first set. But Berdych’s forehand was way off the mark on Friday that gifted a break to the local hope at 3-5.
The second seed did not need any more opportunity as he sealed the opening set 6-3 with an ace.
The next set was all square till the sixth game which turned out to be a marathon. After managing to wriggle out of that crucial service game for a confidence-boosting hold, Murray upped the pressure on his opponent, forcing him into errors.
Berdych cracked and gave away the break and with it, perhaps, all his slim chances of making this semi-final a competitive match, were slammed shut too.The Scot easily pocketed the second set to already place one foot into his home Major final.
If Berdych’s fans were still hoping for some fight from the veteran, they were in for a big disappointment. The set turned out to be as one-sided as the first couple of sets.
As the pressure kept mounting, Berdych totally lost the control on his volleys and started spraying his forehands all over the place. Murray capitalized on it to surge ahead 4-1 and then it was a matter of a few minutes before the World No. 2 returned to the Wimbledon final once again.
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