Andy Murray defeated David Ferrer 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the Paris Masters final for the first time in his career. “It’s tough to get out of the tournament not having lost your serve but that’s how it can go against John”, the former world number one told reporters.
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Britain’s Andy Murray reacts as he holds the runner-up trophy after the final of the BNP Masters tennis tournament which was won by Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in two sets, 6-2, 6-4, at the Paris Bercy Arena, in Paris, France, Sunday, November 8, 2015.
“Credit to Stan for playing a great second set and coming back, winning five games in a row, obviously serving more accurately, playing more powerfully from the baseline, getting more balls back – and it worked for him; he played very well”, Djokovic acknowledged.
In the second-set tiebreaker, Djokovic moved 5-3 up in the tiebreaker only for Berdych to pull back to 6-5.
It was Murray’s 68th match win of the year and the 59th time in 2015 that he has won the match after winning the first set.
A day after his serve was less than flawless against Gilles Simon, Djokovic was extremely accurate with his delivery and played better on the key points to see off Czech Berdych, the 2005 champion.
“I was waiting for him to make mistakes and he didn’t”, Ferrer said.
Earlier, Nishikori, the sixth seed, retired trailing 7-6 (3), 4-1 with the shoulder problem which has bothered him this season, granting French 10th seed Richard Gasquet the quarterfinal berth.
But again, he could not punish Murray, who sealed victory when Ferrer’s attempted drop shot hit the net.
The key break point would come in the ninth game of the deciding third set, and that was all Murray needed to close out his fourth consecutive win against Gasquet.
Briton Murray got off to a strong start, breaking in the second game on his way to a 3-0 lead. “I missed with my backhand a little bit today, left a few too many in the middle of the court and he was able to dictate a lot of the points from there”.
In contrast, Murray was clinical and he sealed the crucial break in the ninth game and held his nerve to take the set. Isner, seeded 13th and known for his big serve, won 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (5). This is a tournament I’ve struggled at in the past.
Murray, who was in the final of the event for the first time, fell behind early on with a sloppy service game early in the first set, handing Djokovic a break just three games into the contest. Djokovic now has won 26 Masters events altogether, two more than Federer and one behind leader Rafael Nadal.
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“But I also had, I think, two of the matches in Indian Wells and the last one in Shanghai, from my side weren’t good”.
