TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – Twice now Andy Murray has had to defend his major title and twice he has failed to do so falling in the quarterfinal round each time. Murray came into this matchup in excellent form having not dropped a set in the first four rounds. Prior to this year, Grigor Dimitrov has failed to get past the 2nd round at this tournament. Cordell Hackshaw
Results, Order of Play, Draws and Interviews from The Championships
Twice now Andy Murray (3) has had to defend his major title and twice he has failed to do so falling in the quarterfinal round each time. Murray came into this matchup in excellent form having not dropped a set in the first four rounds. Prior to this year, Grigor Dimitrov (11) has failed to get past the 2nd round at this tournament. However, this year on the grass courts, Dimitrov has looked quite at home having won Queen’s Club tournament prior to this event. Dimitrov has been showing signs all season long that he is ready to make a break into the top echelon on the game. Him making his first major semifinal is a huge step in that direction especially after beating the defending champion Murray in straight sets 6-1 7-64 6-2 in just over 2 hours. “I was pretty steady during the whole match and came out the winner,” said Dimitrov after the match.
Murray was on the attack from the very onset of the match giving himself a 0-30 lead on Dimitrov’s serve. He would earn himself a break point in this opening game but Dimitrov would hold serve as Murray’s backhand found the net. Murray went on to hold serve with ease but that would be just about the only easy thing he would have in this match. Dimitrov broke the defending champion twice in that set, the second time at love and served it out 6-1 in 25 minutes. Murray would later state, “I started the match badly. And I think that gave him confidence. You know, I should have done a better job.” Murray’s life remained difficult as Dimitrov made it clear in the 2nd set that he was looking to break in every Murray service game. His aggression paid off as he broke in the 7th game for a 4-3 lead. Murray got the break back for 4-4 and held serve for 5-4. They remained on serve till 6-6 for a decisive tiebreaker with Murray again having to save break points in order to get to the breaker.
Murray opened the breaker with a double fault, which seemed to encapsulate his entire state of mind in the match thus far; he was well off his game today. Murray would get back the mini break and they remained on serve to 4-4. Dimitrov then stepped up the intensity and earned himself the minibreak for 5-4. The set now rested in his hand with two serve. He went 6-4 with his signature backhand winner and then an amazing pick up volley for the set 7-65.
Perhaps British fans were not initially concerned by this 2-0 sets lead that Dimitrov had attained. Their local hero Murray had after all staged several miracle comebacks here at Wimbledon, including last year in the quarterfinals against Fernando Verdasco. However, there must have been real panic as Dimitrov remained on for the upset by breaking in the 6th game of the 3rd set for a 4-2 lead after Murray again double faulted. Dimitrov consolidated this break with an ace to go up 5-2. Now Murray had to serve to stay in the match. There would be no Murray Magical comeback today from the defending champion. He looked defeated as he soon fell behind 0-30 in this crucial game. Murray double faulted yet again to bring up two match points for Dimitrov at 15-40. Dimitrov would only need one as Murray’s forehand found the net. Dimitrov is through to his first major semifinal 6-1 7-6 6-2.
Dimitrov spoke of performance in the match, “As soon as we started warming up, I sensed his game wasn’t at his highest level and I was pretty confident and playing good tennis. The first set helped me get into a good rhythm. The second set tie-break was a key moment for me. Coming into the third set, I knew I had a lot of things under control.” Murray replied that he felt fine and added, “Today was a bad day, you know, from my side. I made many mistakes, unforced errors, and then started going for too much and taking chances that weren’t really there.” There is very true for Dimitrov was clearly the better player on court today. The Bulgarian outperformed Murray in every single category. Dimitrov had 10 aces and 3 double faults to go with 32 winners and 18 errors while Murray had 5 aces and double faults, 24 winners and 37 errors. Even on serve, Dimitrov was the better man. He got more 1st serves in than Murray and won 77% of those points and 59% on 2nd serves. Murray on the other hand only won 72% on 1st serve and a pitiful 31% on 2nd serve. This difference clearly explained why Dimitrov had more break opportunities, nine in total and coverted five of them whereas Murray would only break that once in the 2nd set. Dimitrov will next face Novak Djokovic in the semifinal for a chance at his first major final. If he wants to win that matchup, he would have to maintain this form and then some in order to deny Djokovic a chance at a 2nd Wimbledon title.
