Second seed and 2012 champion Andy Murray crushed Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to reach a sixth US Open quarter-final on Monday, clocking up a personal fast serve record in the process.
Advertisement
The Scot’s 141 mile-an-hour rocket on the eighth evening of the tournament was one of nine aces he put past the bewildered Bulgarian, who barely got into the match at any point.
“But I’ve never hit over 140, so I think it was lucky. -23-after-fourth-round-procession_sto5825350/story.shtml” class=”local_link” >Serena Williams hit a tournament-leading 126-mph serve, pounded 11 aces, won 28 of 30 points when a first serve landed in, and didn’t face a break point against the 52nd-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova on her way to victory. “I played a really good match against him at the Olympics and I will need to do that again”.
He was consistently 10 miles an hour faster than Dimitrov on serve, and happily paid the price of five double faults as the world No22 floundered in the face of the unstoppable blizzard.
Murray in fact faced two break points in the first game, but Murray saved them with two big serves on what would be a big serving night. And I served very well when I was behind in the games.
“It’s definitely up there, I played well today, made very few unforced errors and made it tough for Grigor”. It’s obviously an unbelievable court to play on, a fantastic atmosphere. Since the final of the Madrid Masters in May, Murray had lost just one match, the final of the French Open, until coming up against Marin Cilic in Cincinnati.
“Andy right now is the best player out there”, Dimitrov said.
Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka will now Juan Martin del Potro in the quarters as he defeated Illya Marchenko 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 at Flushing Meadows in the fourth round. If so, it was not immediately apparent.
Which is no slight on Dimitrov.
The 29-year-old reigning Wimbledon and Olympic champion stormed to an impressive seventh win in 10 meetings against the 22nd-seeded Dimitrov. Yet he was not remotely on form in this one-sided fourth-round match.
The third set was the same, an immediate break, a 132mph ace, and some terrific defence as Dimitrov plied the back corners, but he never tried a drop shot, a serve and volley, really anything to disrupt the steam train that Murray had become. Even if the speed gun was telling fibs, the ball did hit the back wall like a bullet.
But more than in any other match in NY, there was a steel in Murray’s demeanour right from the first point.
Dimitrov attempted to defend his display. A 138mph serve from the Briton to hold and he broke again.
The second set lost, Dimitrov was under pressure instantly at the start of the third. He broke in the first game of the second with a whipped forehand victor, and again in the third to lead 3-0, as a sleepy crowd began to wonder if Dimitrov would ever get on the board. The match was so lopsided, near its conclusion ESPN announcer John McEnroe wondered aloud on the broadcast about their previous encounter: “How the heck did that happen?”
Advertisement
Murray did, though. When he chased down a perfectly respectable down-the-line forehand and thrashed it crosscourt for 3-0, Dimitrov could do no more than look on in wonder.
