However, this was Murray’s day to celebrate one of his finest wins, which led to the third clay-court title of his career after victories in Munich and Madrid a year ago.
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Andy Murray celebrated his birthday in style by beating Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-3 in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final in Rome.
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.
Andy Murray is heading to Roland Garros with a more complete armoury than ever and a real chance of lifting his first French Open.
“It’s mostly great players that have won this event, so I’m very proud to have my name on the trophy”, Murray said. “He has more variety in his shots from the baseline play, so obviously he did improve”, said Djokovic.
Murray’s Italian Open win has not led to any changes in the 2016 French Open betting market with Ladbrokes and Djokovic ($1.73) remains a clear favourite from Rafael Nadal ($5), Murray ($6) with last year’s victor Stan Wawrinka ($15).
In the end, Djokovic’s defeat came quickly, the Serb hitting a couple of loose forehands and a double fault at 3-5 down before Murray conjured up one inspirational backhand victor from way beyond the tramlines to lift the title.
Murray held off break points at the start of the second set, one of them with a quick witted serve and volley.
“I certainly didn’t think I’d be winning a clay Masters multiple times”, Murray said.
Murray’s feat was historic in other ways as well – the last British men’s singles player to have won in Rome was George Patrick Hughes in 1931. I asked to have a little break.to (let) people arrange the court.
Moreover, with the momentum that Murray continued to enjoy at the tournament, he was certainly in to give the top-seeded Djokovic a run for his money.
But Murray stressed: “Every time I go up against him I know I have to play great tennis to win”.
Serena Williams, meanwhile, heads to Paris brimming with confidence ahead of her bid for a third title at Roland Garros that wold take her Grand Slam tally to 22.
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“I had a long couple of weeks especially the last couple of days. I could make my game, I can say”. His aggressive game and range of strokes rattled last year’s French Open finalist and his advancement on clay has been a remarkable feature of the past two years.
