Sallydaisy
19-01-2013, 08:13
Not quite a Murraycoaster but those of us watching had a few uneasy moments.
As a reminder - although Andy had never met Berankis in a match before the pair have practiced together quite a lot so knew what to expect of each others game. The Lithuanian had surgery last year for an injury which had put paid to his progress up the rankings so he's only now finding his way back into the top 100.
For fans and commentators alike it was clear that Berankis has a lot of talent - but he's not achieved a sufficiently consistent game to trouble the players at the very top. Yet.
Andy began very well gaining an early break of serve in the 2nd game and holding his own for 3-0.
At this point it seemed as though Berankis was going to be outplayed but he began to settle and go for more shots beginning to show why he's been so talked 'up'. He held his serve before unleashing some powerful shots which earned him a break point on Andy's next service game. Muzzah held on for 4-1 and then quickly broke again and was serving for the match at 5-1.
Never easy watching Andy is it?
:facepalm:
Berankis found some amazing shots and great returns of serve to break back and then held easily for 3-5 but, still a break in hand, Andy had another opportunity to serve out the set and took it 6'3.
There was some concern about whether Andy had picked up an injury because he kept picking at the shoulder of his shirt. It looked very much as though it was scratching or irritating him but, as reported by Bardot, he'd had a few niggles in practice:
"Regarding Andy's shoulder, the Aussie commentators say that Andy tweaked it in the warm-up playing an overhead, they showed him doing it. He seems to have worked his way through it."
After the match Andy didn't refer to the problem at all but said he'd had problems with his timing in R2 and in his practice session.
So, onto the 2nd set.
Andy looked increasingly unhappy with himself at one point coming out with a class motivational yell of "Come on, do something!" Berankis took heed and proceeded to break Murray in the next game but then faltered on his own service game and was broken back to love. 3-3 and on serve but Berankis wasn't done. Andy's serve went off the boil a little and the Lithuanian pounced on any 2nd serve that came his way winning points with some great returns, creating angled shots and painting the lines. They both held and then Andy managed to break, at the 3rd chance, and served out the match for 6'4 but not before being 0-30 down on his serve!
Despite not playing at his best Andy was 2-0 up.
The third set began better and Murray broke in the 3rd game to go ahead and it stayed on serve then until Andy was 5-4 up and serving for the match. Yep, he got broken. As earlier on in the match he was able to break back immediately and at the 2nd time of asking served out the set and took the match 6'3, 6'4, 7'5.
The scoreline is somewhat misleading; it appears Andy had a fairly easy time of it.
That was far from the case.
After the first few games Berankis troubled Andy on most of his service games and showed why so many people viewed him as a top prospect a few years ago when he was the World #1 Junior. The injuries and time off the tour have held him back but if he can now stay injury free he's a good chance of working his way back up the rankings.
Andy clearly respects him and what he's capable of - but today the world #3 won when not playing his best and found a way through a testing match against a talented guy.
Andy's R4 opponent isn't known but will be the winner of Gilles Simon or Gael Monfils. Muzzah has a 9-1 H2H v Gillou and Gael, (H2H 3-2) is not long back from his injury and may well be a bit match rusty. Andy acknowledged that Monfils gave him more trouble but they've not played since the Paris Masters 2010, won by the Frenchman, in front of a home crowd, in 3 sets.
Further down the line* Andy's quarter has opened up somewhat
with the defeat today of Del Potro[6] to Chardy and Cilic[12] to Seppi.
* one match at a time!
:cauldron:
As a reminder - although Andy had never met Berankis in a match before the pair have practiced together quite a lot so knew what to expect of each others game. The Lithuanian had surgery last year for an injury which had put paid to his progress up the rankings so he's only now finding his way back into the top 100.
For fans and commentators alike it was clear that Berankis has a lot of talent - but he's not achieved a sufficiently consistent game to trouble the players at the very top. Yet.
Andy began very well gaining an early break of serve in the 2nd game and holding his own for 3-0.
At this point it seemed as though Berankis was going to be outplayed but he began to settle and go for more shots beginning to show why he's been so talked 'up'. He held his serve before unleashing some powerful shots which earned him a break point on Andy's next service game. Muzzah held on for 4-1 and then quickly broke again and was serving for the match at 5-1.
Never easy watching Andy is it?
:facepalm:
Berankis found some amazing shots and great returns of serve to break back and then held easily for 3-5 but, still a break in hand, Andy had another opportunity to serve out the set and took it 6'3.
There was some concern about whether Andy had picked up an injury because he kept picking at the shoulder of his shirt. It looked very much as though it was scratching or irritating him but, as reported by Bardot, he'd had a few niggles in practice:
"Regarding Andy's shoulder, the Aussie commentators say that Andy tweaked it in the warm-up playing an overhead, they showed him doing it. He seems to have worked his way through it."
After the match Andy didn't refer to the problem at all but said he'd had problems with his timing in R2 and in his practice session.
So, onto the 2nd set.
Andy looked increasingly unhappy with himself at one point coming out with a class motivational yell of "Come on, do something!" Berankis took heed and proceeded to break Murray in the next game but then faltered on his own service game and was broken back to love. 3-3 and on serve but Berankis wasn't done. Andy's serve went off the boil a little and the Lithuanian pounced on any 2nd serve that came his way winning points with some great returns, creating angled shots and painting the lines. They both held and then Andy managed to break, at the 3rd chance, and served out the match for 6'4 but not before being 0-30 down on his serve!
Despite not playing at his best Andy was 2-0 up.
The third set began better and Murray broke in the 3rd game to go ahead and it stayed on serve then until Andy was 5-4 up and serving for the match. Yep, he got broken. As earlier on in the match he was able to break back immediately and at the 2nd time of asking served out the set and took the match 6'3, 6'4, 7'5.
The scoreline is somewhat misleading; it appears Andy had a fairly easy time of it.
That was far from the case.
After the first few games Berankis troubled Andy on most of his service games and showed why so many people viewed him as a top prospect a few years ago when he was the World #1 Junior. The injuries and time off the tour have held him back but if he can now stay injury free he's a good chance of working his way back up the rankings.
Andy clearly respects him and what he's capable of - but today the world #3 won when not playing his best and found a way through a testing match against a talented guy.
Andy's R4 opponent isn't known but will be the winner of Gilles Simon or Gael Monfils. Muzzah has a 9-1 H2H v Gillou and Gael, (H2H 3-2) is not long back from his injury and may well be a bit match rusty. Andy acknowledged that Monfils gave him more trouble but they've not played since the Paris Masters 2010, won by the Frenchman, in front of a home crowd, in 3 sets.
Further down the line* Andy's quarter has opened up somewhat
with the defeat today of Del Potro[6] to Chardy and Cilic[12] to Seppi.
* one match at a time!
:cauldron: