Murray Finds His Feet
The British and world number one cruised through to the second round of the French Open with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 win over Russian Andrey Kuznetsov. What will be more promising for Murray and his team is the manner of the victory. With morale low and illness taking its toll, there was very much a sense that Murray would do well to even scrape into the second round against a tough opponent, let alone play with any sort of conviction.
And whilst the first two sets of the match merely underlined that view, a pivotal period at the end of the second set and start of the third gave Murray some momentum, and with that, he found his form, brushing aside the Russian with two almost perfect sets of tennis.
It did take Murray a while to get going, as he was sloppy in the early stages, but Kuznetsov wasn't playing particularly well either, and he handed Murray an early break of serve, only to break back. But Murray was able to grind out the first set, breaking the Russian in the 10th game to take the set 6-4.
But Murray simply couldn't keep his form going, as Kuznetsov broke straight away to move into the lead at the start of the second set. Murray broke back immediately, but the Russian won four straight games after that, as he started to dominate the match. 5-2 up in the second set, Murray needed to break Kuznetsov twice in a row to stay in the set. But whilst he didn't manage that, he did break once, and found something resembling form at the end of the set, despite Kuznetsov managing to force a hold to level the match.
If Murray's return to form began at the end of the second set, it flared into life in the third, as he came out like a house on fire, breaking Kuznetsov easily to move 3-0 and then 4-1 up. The turning point in the match arguably came when Kuznetsov lobbed Murray in sensational style, only for the Briton to somehow chase it down and flick the ball back over the net. But that was merely a touch of class that confirmed that Murray was near his best; the world number one had already been playing at top form for a couple of games by that point.
From there Kuznetsov simply had no answer as Murray broke him for a second time to take the third and crucial set 6-2, and went on to steamroller him 6-0 in a sensational final set. What had threatened to be a frustrating and tense afternoon for Murray turned into a stroll in the park by the end. It was arguably the perfect day for Murray, as he was able to feel his way into form against a tricky opponent but was forced to play well; by the end he was somewhere near his best. Hopefully, Murray can use this win to springboard his Roland Garros, and keep playing somewhere near his best for the next two weeks.
Konta Crashes Out
For Johanna Konta it was sadly the opposite story, as she crashed out 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 to Taiwanese world 109 Hsieh Su-wei. Konta had started brilliantly, and her opponent simply had no answer to her sensational first set of tennis. It helped that Konta was able to serve herself into a rhythm nicely, and her service game was never even close to disrupted until mid-way through the second set. As a result, Konta, serving first, was able to get stuck into Hsieh early on, and used her power game to give the world number 109 no chance.
But Hsieh was able to get a bit of form together at the start of the second set, serving better and although Konta still looked the more likely to break, Hsieh was still playing well. Then midway through the second set, Hsieh's momentum grew, as she was able to attack the Konta serve for the first time. Whilst Konta managed to save four break points in that game, and then was able to scramble, holding her serve to take the second set to a tiebreaker. By that point though, there was only one winner, as Hsieh was playing the better tennis and won the tiebreaker comfortably to level the match.
There was only one winner in the final set. Hsieh broke early but failed to hold her nerve and let Konta straight back into it. Nevertheless, Konta's unforced errors just kept coming, and Hsieh broke again straight away, before holding her serve twice more. Konta had her moments towards the end of the match, but truthfully she'd looked a beaten woman for the back half of the match.
It's a real shame for Konta, given that she had started so well and looked really really good for the first half of the match. But she fell away and wasn't able to regain any form, although in her defence she did well to hold out under pressure and grind a few crucial games. It all counts for naught though, as the number seven seed is out of Roland Garros in the first round yet again.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Wenger in. Two more years confirmed.
- Nuno appointed Wolves' boss.
- Stokes likely to feature against Bangladesh.
- Tom Wood gets 6 week ban.
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