Andy Murray withstood a barrage of stunning backhands from Richard Gasquet to advance to the Paris-Bercy semi-finals with a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 victory.This match-up has led to some classics in the past, including two Murray comebacks from two-sets down in Grand Slam play. History repeated itself as Gasquet threw away a break lead in the final set, with Murray winning four of the last five games for the win.
Murray was the one to come out of the blocks firing, breaking to love in the first Gasquet service game. It came sandwiched between two deuce holds for Murray, as Gasquet himself seemed determined to make an impact. The Frenchman finally made the breakthrough in game seven, mirroring Murray’s break-to-love effort, as the first set returned to serve. Both men held the rest of the way, ensuring a tiebreak would decide the first set victor.
It was to be Murray, who won the set despite winning fewer points on his own serve than Gasquet. Yet the World No.2 struck when it mattered most, earning a single mini-break to steal the set from the frenchman seven-five.
Gasquet has had a fantastic year though, making the semi-finals of Wimbledon. He showed some of that form in the second set, breaking in game six as Murray’s first serve percentage continued to dwindle. Murray failed to make much of an impact, and Gasquet nearly stole another break, hitting some typically magical one-handed return winners to earn love-thirty. Murray did escape, but could not conjure up a break, as Gasquet held to thirty to level.
Gasquet was now completely on top, even winning long rallies that are normally Murray’s domain. The Frenchman earned two break points in the first game of the final set, only for Murray to save both with excellent serves. Murray also appeared to clutch his left hamstring for a brief time but did not call for the trainer. Instead, he would force a break point of his own, courtesy of a superb defensive point that eventually left Gasquet on the floor after a volley. Gasquet ruthlessly dealt with the break point, a masterful serve-backhand combo dissuading the threat. Two serves quickly saw Gasquet out of trouble.
Murray then was broken, as Gasquet continued to attack. A double fault at fifteen-thirty was ill-timed and sparked a furious monologue from Murray, berating himself for the loss of the key point. Gasquet broke with another service return winner.
The Frenchman has an issue with closing matches out with Murray though, and handed the break straight back. Murray improved to return well, breaking the Frenchman to thirty when the Frenchman pushed a Murray return into the tramlines.
Both men held comfortably until game eight. Gasquet then got into trouble, as Murray won a point at the net, and then the Frenchman missing a backhand. Gasquet recovered to win a stunning half-volley point for fifteen-thirty. But Murray then found a backhand angle for two break points. Murray missed the first with a lob by millimetre, and an ace brought Gasquet to deuce. Another backhand error brought Murray another opportunity. The devastating Gasquet serve-backhand combo paid dividends again, as they returned to deuce. Gasquet finaly succumbed, a Murray drop-shot and then a backhand error sealed the break for Murray.
Murray served out to reach his first semi-final in Paris-Bercy, where he will play the winner of David Ferrer and John Isner.
Andy Murray: “I think I got the break back straight away… he maybe uses the angles better than anyone.. makes it tricky, I was smarter at the end instead of going for big serves I was able to dictate”
“It was a tough match you know obviously the crowd were right behind him, it was a good warm-up for the Davis Cup”.
“I was moving well right the way through to the end, on the serve it (lower back) was giving me a little trouble”.
