Andy Murray Upsets Novak Djokovic In Miami Final

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Andy Murray Upsets Novak Djokovic In Miami Final
By Anton Lagani, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Sunday, April 5, 2009 9:30pm PST USA

Andy Murray Upsets Novak Djokovic In Miami Final, Miami, Sony Ericsson Open, Lawn Tennis Magazine

Miami--(lawntennis.org) After losing in the final of his prior ATP Tour tournament, the BNP Paribas, the fourth seeded Andy Murray of Britain Sunday went one step further at the Sony Ericsson Open at Miami by defeating the third seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-2, 7-5.

The victory for Murray earned him his third singles title of the year. Murray earlier in the year took singles titles at Doha, Qatar and at Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

In his best grand slam result to date, Murray reached the US Open final last September before losing to the world number two Roger Federer of Switzerland in straight sets 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

After that showing, Murray emerged as a favorite for the following grand slam, the Australian Open, which was contested in January. However Murray was upset in the fourth round by Fernando Verdasco of Spain in five sets after he was picked by many to win the singles title.

Last month at the BNP Paribas at Indian Wells, California, Murray defeated Federer in the semifinals before being crushed by the world number one Rafael Nadal in the final 6-1, 6-2.

Andy Murray of England | Image: AP

Andy Murray earlier in the year took singles titles at Doha, Qatar and at Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

This week in Miami, Murray scored a rematch victory versus Verdasco in the quarterfinals with a straight set win. Then in the semifinals, Murray stopped Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. Del Potro earlier in the quarterfinals had posted a major upset as he defeated Nadal in a third set tiebreaker.

Versus Djokovic today, Murray executed powerful groundstrokes and serves to quickly take set one after first racing ahead 4-0. Then when Djokovic stepped up his game to go ahead 5-2 in set two, it looked as if a decisive third set would take place. The Serb served for the set at 5-3 before netting an unfortunate doublefault.

“Physically he's moving much better all over the court,” Djokovic said. “The balls he wasn’t getting before, he is now.” “You have to say, 'Well done.'”

Murray would win the last five games of the match as his mix of power and placement eventually would wear down Djokovic.

“It's my way of dictating how the match is getting played,” Murray said. “A lot of people might not necessarily think my game looks the most aggressive or offensive, but very few times will I not have the points played how I like them to be played.”

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