Magnificent Murray roars into US Open final
Hurricane Hanna may have delayed Andy Murray ’s passage through to his first ever US Open final, but the fiery Scot whipped up a storm of his own as he triumphed over Rafael Nadal 6-2, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 in a veritable thriller that kept the packed Arthur Ashe Stadium enthralled throughout.
One of the subplots to tonight’s semi-final was the US Open organisers’ baffling decision to stagger the start times for the men’s semi-finals on Super Saturday. Having known with some degree of certainty that the weather would halt play, the sensible decision was to start both matches at 11am. Interview
Don King However, the organisers decided to put the second semi-final on Luis Armstrong at 12.40pm. It was a decision that could have proved fatal to Andy’s continued participation in the tournament, given the whirlwind start he had made to the biggest match of his career.
The Scot looked in the mood right from the off, as he broke Nadal in the third game of the first set with some incisive play. The Spaniard struggled to get to get into Andrew Murray ’s service games, with the 21-year-old from Dunblane posting unusually high numbers on his normally inconsistent serve. The Scot continued to dominate proceedings and broke for a second time before serving out the first set.
Normal service resumed at the start of the second set, Nadal’s serve in perpetual peril and Murray’s service games consistently comfortable. It seemed like there was nothing the French Open champion could do to stem the tide of wicked forehands and backhands from his less illustrious opponent. Somehow the Spaniard battled to a tiebreak, fending off set points and countless break points along the way. Murray, however, continued undeterred and took the second set tiebreak through a mixture of inspired play and charity from his decorated opponent. View the latest discussions on this news on our Andy Murray Message Board .
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