Andy Murray has won an historic fifth title at The Queen’s Club after battling past Milos Raonic 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, in the final of the Aegon Championships.
In what was described as an off-court battle between John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl (the players coaches), Murray had to contend with some sublime serving from his 6ft 5in opponent. Raonic progressed to the final without dropping a service game in the tournament compared to Murray’s 86% winning rate.
During the opening set, both men were displaying their best serving ability with neither player being able to grab a breakpoint. Every time Murray tried to close in with a series of world-class cross-court shots, Raonic would spoil the Brit’s momentum with his speedy serving, winning 81% of his service points throughout the first set compared to Murray’s 76%.
Watch and savour this peach of an @andy_murray double-handed backhand winner! https://t.co/kRsZ9udpkC https://t.co/04vBspQgXn
— TennisTV (@TennisTV) 19 June 2016
The inability to separate the two men resulted in a tiebreaker. In their previous encounters, they have played a total of four tiebreakers with them both winning two each. This time it was Raonic’s turn to triumph as he moved freely around the court, constantly applying the pressure. A volley at the net secured the early break for him. The tone of the crowd in the centre court began to decline until a deep return from Murray forced his opponent to produce an error, giving him the break back for 5-5. Despite the break back, it was still not enough to tame the Canadian third seed. Moving to a set point with a serve/smash combination, Raonic once again silenced the crowd when a forehand down the line clinched the opening set.
Murray has defeated Raonic five times prior to the final at The Queen’s Club, but only one of them was from a set down. It seemed as if Murray’s historic attempt was over after a time violation followed by another error awarded the third seed a break for 2-0. Facing the prospect of a straight sets loss, Murray responded by breaking back, ending Raonic’s run of 55 consecutive service games held at the tournament this week. The surge continued after he secured the double break before levelling the match at one-set all after a Raonic backhand drifted out.
The comeback was in full swing at the start of the decider. A marathon rally concluded with a clever drop shot by the net from Murray, rewarding him with a break at the start of the crucial deciding set. Raonic’s commanding management of the match during the first set-and-a-half was now a distant memory against a fired up world No.2. Edging toward the historic victory, a successful short return from Murray resulted in him earning two championship points before they were both saved by his rival. It was third time lucky after a Raonic backhand into the net gifted Murray a record-breaking fifth title.
“It was great, obviously coming out here to win a fifth title I was motivated,” the five-time champion said.
“It was frustrating that I went down a set and a break. Then I started returning well and my serve worked well during the last couple of sets.”
Murray’s achievement was also praised by runner-up Raonic, who was playing in his first ATP final on the grass.
“I like to congratulate Andy for winning this tournament for a fifth time, it’s not nearly as special as your first fathers day, so happy fathers day.” he said.
“At least I hope it’s not as special, then I can take some consolation at least.” Raonic joked.
Becoming the first player to win the The Queen’s Club on five occasions, Murray has overtaken tennis royalty such as Lleyton Hewitt, John McEnroe and Boris Becker. Speaking about his milestone achievement, the world No.2 has praised the tournament.
“This tournament has a lot of history, it’s a great event. They always have great crowds. Every year the player field is strong.” he said.
Murray will exit the London tournament with 500 ranking points and a prize money bonus of €410,200.
