TENNIS ATP SHENZEN – Andy Murray broke a 15-month drought to clinch his first title since his Wimbledon triumph in July 2013 in the ATP 250 in Shenzhen where he beat Tommy Robredo with 5-7 7-6(9) 6-1 in two hours and thirty minutes. Murray saved five match points. Diego Sampaolo
The Scotsman dropped serve twice in the opening game of the first set when he made two double faults and was broken again when he sent a powerful forehand return long in the 11th game for 5-6 en route to losing the first set with 5-7.
Murray recovered from 0-40 at 3-2 to break serve in the second set. Robredo broke back in the next game. Robredo saved two break points at 5-4 before the second set came down to the tie-break. Murray was on the brink of losing the tie-break of the second set when he went down 2-6 facing four match points but saved them. Murray fended off another match point when Robredo was leading 7-6 but he recovered to clinch the second set with a 11-9 in the breaker.
“Today was an incredibly tough match The conditions are so hard to play in. I got lucky in the second set. I fought hard and tried my best and thankfully managed to turn it around”, said Murray
The Dunblane star broke three times to seal the win in the third set with 6-1 for his first win of the year. He will move up to World Number 10 in the ATP Ranking with the 250 points won in the Chinese tournament. He will play in Beijing and Shanghai to look for points to qualify for the ATP Finals in London.
