TENNIS – Andy Murray finds his best performance of the season to outclass Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in two easy, straight sets 6-4 6-1 in the fourth round of Sony Open, Miami. The Briton asked for a medical break, during which he took pain-killers, but there was little to shadow his face on such a brilliant day for his tennis. Giulio Gasparin
Andy Murray finds his best performance of the season to outclass Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in two easy, straight sets 6-4 6-1 in the fourth round of Sony Open, Miami.
The Briton asked for a medical break, during which he took pain-killers, but there was little to shadow his face on such a brilliant day for his tennis.
The Wimbledon champion started by looking a little rusty, but so was Tsonga, who first lost serve in the third game, which proved deciding for the first set.
Murray’s tactic was clear from the very beginning as he forced the French man to endless rallies on his backhand, which eventually was leaking an error or an easy ball to attack.
Tsonga, who had beaten Murray only three times out of 11 previous matches, found a massive reaction in the fifth game, when he saved four more break points, one of them with an impressive forehand crosscourt.
The set followed the pattern of the service games and despite the back pain that forced Murray to ask for tabs, the Briton did not face a single break point.
In the last game of the set, it was clear that Murray’s mix of defence and offence had made Tsonga lose confidence in his game-plan. On 30-15 the Scot found an outstanding volley to go up two set points, with the first one being decisive as Tsonga hopelessly rushed to the net after a short return.
The T-shirt change of colour did not help the French man at all and despite a prideful reaction in the first game, it immediately became clear that Murray wanted the job to be done as fast as possible.
Thanks to aggressive forehands and impressive net coverage Murray put Tsonga on the ropes.
In the third game the Briton found the way for a break once again, following a very thrilling game, closed by two aggressive rallies for the Wimbledon Champion.
Tsonga tried a reaction, but once again he could not even get close to a break point and Murray hold from 15-30 down.
With all the momentum behind his wings, the Briton broke to love and then gave a show of all his repertoire in the following game, first with impressive defence and then with a complicated overhead to go 5-1 up.
In the last game, Murray found a sensational forehand from almost the back fence on the opening point, then Tsonga missed two shots to give his rival three match points.
Despite saving the first one, the French player could not make the most of the hawk-eye that lengthened the match on the second match point.
The point was replayed and Murray did not let the match last any longer, as he forced another error of his opponent with a deep return worth the victory.
Murray is now set to face world number two, Novak Djokovic, for a place in the semi-finals.
