But it’s Murray who has dominated the head-to-head between the two. Twenty-two-year-old Puig, ranked No. 34 in the world and the underdog in the match, has a chance to win Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal at a Games.
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Murray’s victory on Saturday was far easier for him.
Even when sitting down, Murray rose to the challenge.
“It’s obviously unbelievable to be in the final again”, Murray told Bravo Network’s Trenni Kusnierek. Kei played a three-hour singles match. I think getting off to the start I did made a big difference. “I want to put this behind me as much as I can and get ready for tomorrow”. I’m not really thinking about any of the stuff that goes with that just now.
Added to that, Monfils blew 4-0 (should have been 5-0) and *6-3 leads in the final set tie breaker against Nishikori, including a double fault on match point, to lose the last five points in a row.
The Scot has only once failed to win the opening set against Nishikori and that was in his only defeat to the Japanese at the O2 when Murray was exhausted in 2014 and six of the seven openers between them have ended either 6-3 or 6-4.
Juan Martin del Potro has now knocked off Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in these Olympics.
Asked about the prospect of winning a second straight Olympic gold, Murray said: “It would mean a lot”.
The Wimbledon champion’s first serve is a more unsafe weapon: He served 76 percent, won 82 percent of his first-serve points and did not face a break point. He defeated Japan’s Kei Nishikori in a commanding display. On the second, the fourth seed sent a backhand wide and both were saved, sending the game to deuce.
Murray was in superb form and did not face a single break point.
Boom! Andy #Murray is into a 2nd consecutive #Olympics Final after smashing #Nishikori 6-1, 6-4! But Nishikori quickly erased the point.
At past Games, Puerto Rico has captured a total of just eight medals, mostly in boxing.
It was a matter of a few minutes before the second seed wrapped up the first set 6-1.
But Murray can’t overlook Nishikori, a player who has been coming into his own recently.
“You wanna be the star?”
“Bit of a lucky shot”, Murray said.
The changeover drama didn’t deter him from gaining triple break point.
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Murray grabbed a break in the fifth game, however, as Nishikori completely lost the plot, missing several key shots and all but gifting Murray the game. He consolidated at love. Nishikori hit a limp return into the net and Murray roared into the final.
