Andy Murray survived a tough start to his match before easing his way past Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters.
Murray entered the match high in confidence after boasting a winning head-to-head of 13-2 against the Frenchman. Despite this, the opening set was far from one-sided as Simon matched the world No.2 through the majority of it.
The resilience of Simon was clearly frustrating Murray, who came close to smashing his racket on the floor on numerous occasions. The first chance for the Brit came in the eighth game after a backhand unforced error handed him a opportunity to move ahead 5-3. The defending champion was denied the break due to a superb slice from his opponent. The closeness between the two subsided at the most crucial point of the set. As Simon served to stay in the set, the speed of the Frenchman’s serve decline as the nerves increased. A slow serve from Simon was rightfully punished by Murray to hand the second seed his first set point. The set was then gifted to him thanks to a backhand unforced error from his opponent.
Fantastic winner from @andy_murray v #Simon. Watch live: https://t.co/kRsZ9udpkC #MMOPEN #ATP https://t.co/odNQYadSIA
— TennisTV (@TennisTV) 5 May 2016
The award of the first set enhanced Murray’s game dramatically as he played with more confidence and sharpness in his shots on the Manolo Santana stadium. Bullying Simon around the court more frequently, Murray broke at the start of the second set to race to a set and 3-0 lead.
As Murray approached the finish line, the match was temporarily postponed due to a medical emergency involving a spectator. Resuming the match, Murray continued his dominance by hitting a blistering forehand down the line to move to one game away from victory. Emulating the end of opening set, the defending champion applied pressure on Simon’s serve. A deep return, triggering the Frenchman to hit the ball out, handed Murray his first match point. Failing to take his first opportunity, Murray closed the match out with a stunning pick up at the net a couple points later.
In his 96-minute encounter, Murray produced 20 winners compared to 16 unforced errors. More impressively, the world No.2 won 11/13 points at the net.
“Normally against Gilles it’s always a complicated match because of the way he plays. He always makes it very difficult and there are a lot of long rallies. Due to the conditions, because it was a bit faster, I was able to get a lot more free points on my serve.” Murray said about his sixteenth meeting with Simon.
“It was a good performance. I played smart tennis.”
Thursday’s conditions in Madrid is a sharp contrast to the past couple of days. The temperature is colder, the sun is hiding behind the clouds and the wind has picked up in speed. Murray associated his slow start to the match to the local weather.
“It was very different conditions compared to last few days. It was quite cool and a little bit breezy. The conditions were a little bit heavier,” the world No.2 said.
The win makes Murray the first player to book his place in the last eight of the men’s tournament.
