When the world Nos. I handled that extremely well. “I’m sure it will be the same again on Sunday”.
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Should the world number one defeat Murray he will become the first man in 24 years to win the first two Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year. He always tries to improve his game, always tries to be a better player.
Murray got off to the better start, breaking serve in the third game and that proved to be enough for him to pocket the first set in a hotly-disputed 10th game where Wawrinka had break points to level.
Does Rome loom large having been so recent?
Energy at the majors is a precious commodity and the common belief was that Murray had spent too much of his too early. “I played one of my best matches today”. “I would give Novak the slight edge, but Andy is not unconfident, he is the only guy on tour other than Roger (Federer) that has beaten Djokovic a few times in the last couple of years”.
The last man to win the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in a row was Rod Laver, who took all four titles in 1969.
Dominic Thiem of Austria in action against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their men’s single semi final match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 03 June 2016. The 22-year-old bettered 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur 6-2 6-4. “I’ve been amazed with Novak”. It’s fantastic what he’s done.
Still on Friday, Murray outplayed defending champion Stan Wawrinka to become the first British man to reach a French Open final since 1937.
“There is a lot riding on the match for both of us”.
“This was my best match of the tournament”, Djokovic said after winning his 220th match at a major. “It propelled me to many, many, many wins after that”.
In all, Murray converted five of 15 break points against his opponent’s one from five.
Murray may have been the higher seed but it was tough to make a case for him being the favourite. “He has to back Novak up off the baseline”.
“Novak”, Murray noted, “obviously plays great on all of the surfaces”. “Andy has to figure out how to impact that”.
Bertens was the first Dutchwoman to play a Grand Slam semi since Betty Stove at the 1977 US Open.
It was the first time Murray had ever been a set in front in a French Open semi-final, and he is a great front-runner.
The second set was a rout, and even though Wawrinka managed to rouse himself to steal a tight third, Murray was in the sort of tightly focused mood where he refuses to be flustered – another reminder of the Lendl years. In every other grand slam final, Djokovic went into the match as either the defending champion or a former champion.
It’s a familiarity that Annacone sees as favoring Djokovic – just barely.
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There were whispers that Williams carried an adductor injury – affecting the hip and thigh – into her semifinal, a theory given more credence when the 34-year-old turned up two hours late to her mandatory post-match press conference Thursday. “Wawrinka went in there and swung away and won”.
