There have been times in the last two years when beating Novak Djokovic has appeared to be an all but impossible challenge for Andy Murray, but the Scot’s never-say-die attitude was finally rewarded.
Advertisement
The championship match is the third meeting between Williams, 34, and Keys, and comes exactly a week before the French Open begins.
Novak Djokovic extended his recent mastery over Rafael Nadal with a 7-5, 7-6 (4) win in the Italian Open quarterfinals, coming from behind in both sets of a match he agreed was “a classic”.
But it is Murray s growing power on clay that most fans will take away from a performance that Djokovic, visibly more worn out after being pushed to a three-hour semi-final by Japan s Kei Nishikori, while Murray finished much earlier after cruising past French lucky loser Lucas Pouille, could only salute.
Novak Djokovic underlined the growing clay-court threat of Andy Murray barely a fortnight from the French Open after conceding defeat to the British number one in the final of the Rome Masters.
Serena beat 35th-ranked Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 6-1 in Saturday’s semi-final, while 24th-ranked Keys defeated Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (7/5), 6-4. “He’s using the court better now, and has more variety in his shots from the baseline”.
Andy Murray has always aimed to win every game but that is not the case.
Murray, who was celebrating his 29 birthday on 15 May, put in a masterclass performance on his least favourite surface, becoming the first British man to win the Rome Masters title since 1931.
It was the third 3-set match he had played leading up to the final, and amid the challenging circumstances of intermittent rain, it did not take long for nerves to fray.
“It was a flawless first set”, said Djokovic.
Frenchman Lucas Pouille’s surprise run to the last four in Rome has proved enough for him to climb up to 31st and he will now be seeded for his home Grand Slam tournament.
He broke serve once in the first set and twice in the second in Rome to win in one hour and 35 minutes and he broke the world number one early in the first set, leaving Djokovic, reports the same post. I knew it was going to be an uphill battle against Andy today.
Advertisement
“I think I have made some improvements in my game [in the past year]”, said Murray. “I believe that I can compete with the best players on this surface now”, he said. “Any time you beat the best player in the world, it’s a big win”.
