Inspired Andy Murray’s No1 show puts him in sight of a medal

 
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Paul Newman2 August 2012

Centre or No1 Court, it makes no difference to Andy Murray. The 25-year-old Scot, having played his first three matches in the Olympic tournament on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, moved over to No1 for his quarter-final this afternoon.

Thankfully he took his excellent form with him, and after just 59 minutes had booked his place in tomorrow’s semi-finals with an emphatic 6-4, 6-1 victory over Spain’s Nicolas Almagro, the world No12.

Almagro was hampered by a shoulder problem in the latter stages, but Murray had never looked in trouble. He again served beautifully, hitting 15 aces, and his forehand in particular looked in splendid shape. With rain in the air and a mixed doubles to play on the same court later in the afternoon in partnership with Laura Robson, the world No4 was clearly in no mood to hang around. The crowd, which included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, certainly had no complaints about being short-changed.

In tomorrow’s semi-finals Murray will meet the winner of this afternoon’s later semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Whatever the outcome of his semi-final, Murray is certain to be back for the concluding day on Sunday, either playing in the final or in the bronze medal match.

“That was the goal coming into the tournament,” Murray said. “I thought I served well today. From my side of the court I thought I was solid on serve. In the second set he was struggling and had a problem with his shoulder, so it was much easier for me to return.”

Although there was only one break of serve in the first set, Murray won it with plenty to spare. He hit nine aces, dropped only three points on his serve, made just three unforced errors and smacked 16 winners to Almagro’s three. The Scot struck some spectacular winners, none more so than a forehand that he hit low round a net post after being driven wide by a clever shot from Almagro.

Murray broke to love in the fifth game, then served out for the set, after which the Spaniard sent for the trainer. When he dropped his serve to love in the opening game of the next set it seemed he might retire.

The grimacing Almagro soldiered on, but was broken again in the fifth game, Murray hitting a superb forehand cross-court winner on his second break point, having made an uncharacteristic error on the first with what should have been a routine volley.

By now Almagro’s body language was looking decidedly negative. When he served at 1-5 and 0-30 he was clearly unimpressed when someone from the crowd shouted: “Come on, Nico!” Three points later Murray was celebrating a welcome victory as Almagro netted a backhand.

Murray is clearly relishing his Olympic experience, just like other members of the British team across all the sports.

“From what I’ve seen and what I’ve been around, the whole of the country’s got right into the Olympics, which is great,” he said. “For the athletes, it makes a big difference to play in front of a home crowd. It does add a little bit of extra pressure, but normally it helps to raise your game.”

He added: “I know there’s a lot of people who think that maybe tennis isn’t necessarily an Olympic sport. But I know how much I care about it and how much I want to do well here. I want to try to win a medal, be part of the team and try to help Britain’s medal count if I can.”

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