Andy Murray and Scottish tennis

[SAFINNO1]

Murray thrashes Fish in San Jose

Andy Murray made an impressive start at the SAP Open in San Jose as he crushed Mardy Fish of the USA on Monday.
The 18-year-old Scot swept past Fish 6-2 6-2 and goes on to face another American, James Blake, or Taipei's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang.

Murray fired down five aces and was broken only once, while he converted six of his 11 break-point chances.

"That's the best match I've played this year so far. I feel like I'm hitting well and I was moving well," he said.

"I've been struggling with my serve but I've practised a lot in the last couple of weeks and I was happy with my serve tonight."

Murray is looking to get his season moving after coming into the tournament with two wins and four defeats in 2006.

The victory also avenged a three-set defeat in his only previous match against Fish in Indianapolis last year.

"Since I played him last year, this time I knew his strengths and weaknesses and it helped me get my position early in the rally.

"I was aggressive on the right balls and I was taking risks and I played a really solid match. I'm really happy with how it went."

[Annie]

Blake-Murray...if Andy is in the mood, that might be an interesting match ;D

[SAFINNO1]

GB to take on Serbia in Davis Cup

Rusedski and Murray are likely to play singles and doubles
Great Britain will have to beat Serbia & Montenegro to reclaim a place in the elite World Group of the Davis Cup.
The tie was confirmed when Serbia & Montenegro saw off Israel 4-1 in the Group One qualifier at the weekend.

Glasgow's Braehead Arena will host the tie in April, with Andy Murray and Greg Rusedski expected to lead the British challenge.

Novak Djokovic should star for the visitors against long-time friend and fellow 18-year-old Murray.

[sabz]

After Henman withdrew from Marseille, I was feeling worried about British tennis again
But Murray and Rusedski have had an impressive start!!! ;D
Realy looking forward to the Murry v Blake match - seems very interesting but Murray could pull out a surprise!
Hopefully Rusedski will do well in Marseille - first tournie in 2006, not a bad start. (could catch up with Henman?)
It would be interesting to see either Rusedski or Murray take over the british no.1 from Henman - question is when will it happen. Henman has yet to return back to form!

[maryb]

Think Henman may call it quits soon - too many injuries are building up - and he'll probably start to get pretty frustrated that his ATP ranking is starting to go on the slide.

I think Rusedski will take the number one slot, but it's likely to be brief. Murray is the most likely candidate to hold on to it for a while - although there is another young Scot on his way up too (I've forgotten his name - my brain doesn't work too well these days). He's being coached by Murray's old coach. Think he's about 13 years old - but apparently he shows a lot of promise and is physically quite big for his age too. I'll try and get the name ... watch this space.

Maybe the golden age of Scottish tennis is about to dawn ... about bl**dy time! Maybe come 2020 we'll outclass Sweden in its golden era. Ha ha ha ha ha ;D

Watch out for the tartan invasion at Wimbledon ... no more whites. Black Watch plaid rules ... gaun yersel Jimmy! (Translate that Annie)

Oh I say

PS Nice one in San Jose.

[sabz]

I've heard about this 13 year old as well, but it seems my memory is as good as yours maryb! I'll keep a look out for the name too!
Lovin wat u said about the Scots - lookin forward to the tartan! ;D

[maryb]

Just a point on one of the posts:

Braehead is in RENFREWSHIRE, not Glasgow! Touchy subject for those who work in Rennie.

THE DAVIS CUP IS OORS! (Another translation requirement Annie)

[SAFINNO1]

Murray roars into quarter-finals

Murray will face Swede Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals
Andy Murray booked a quarter-final place at the SAP Open in San Jose with a 6-4 6-2 win over Yeu-Tzuoo Wang.
The 18-year-old fell 3-0 behind in the first set but after pulling level, he survived a marathon eighth game on his own serve before taking the first set.

"I think the first set was the toughest I've played on the tour," he said.

Murray roared through the second set to set up a quarter-final meeting with Sweden's Robin Soderling, who beat Australian Mark Philippoussis.

It will be Murray's first ATP quarter-final of the season, and only the third of his career.

Victory over Soderling on Friday would set up a possible semi-final with top seed Andy Roddick, if the American beats Germany's Bjorn Phau.

[maryb]

A possible semi with Roddick? Aw please. SKY (and possibly BBC - they are starting to show more interest in tennis) will show it then! Fingers crossed that the results come through on this. I've had a long day at work ... a weekend in front of the tennis will help.

As always. ;D

PS Not long until the Davis Cup in Renfrewshire ... I still don't have a ticket ... I'm developing a nervous twitch in my left eye ...

[SAFINNO1]

Actually Mary i think Eurosport will be showing the SF from tomorrow but i think it will be like 10 at night.

[SAFINNO1]

Murray into last four in San Jose


Murray will face top seed Andy Roddick in the semi-finals
Andy Murray produced another battling display to reach the semi-finals of the SAP Open in San Jose.
The 18-year-old from Dunblane lost the first set to Swede Robin Soderling and was a break down in the second.

But he broke back and then out-battled the Swede to level at one set apiece before breaking early in the decider.

Soderling levelled at 4-4 but Murray broke him again and served out a courageous 4-6 7-5 6-4 victory to earn a semi-final with Andy Roddick.

The American top seed beat Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3 6-2 in the last of the day's quarter-finals.
started off pretty badly," Murray said after reaching his second ATP tour semi-final.

"I had a late-night match on Thursday and I didn't get to sleep until about 11 o'clock. I returned pretty well in the last two sets."

Murray threw his racket four times in the match and was given a code violation after appearing to swear at chair umpire Norm Chryst after losing the first set.

"I was trying to get myself going because I started the match so sloppy," said Murray.

"It obviously worked. I was a little frustrated at the four or five bad calls on big points."

Soderling approached Chryst to complain about Murray's behaviour, and the Briton added: "You don't want to be unpopular on tour, but when you are on the court you have to do what you have to do to win."

[marats]

Thanks for the info !

[Tish]

A picture after Andy Murray defeated Andy Roddick the article has been posted in the San Jose 06 thread

[SAFINNO1]

Everybody bow down to the nest start in Tennis

Murray to take on Hewitt in final

Britain's Andy Murray insists Lleyton Hewitt will be a strong favourite when the pair meet in the final of the SAP Open in San Jose on Sunday.
Murray reached the final with a superb win over Andy Roddick but said he needs to play even better against Hewitt.

"Obviously, I'm not expecting to win but I'm going to go out there and try and play one of my best matches," Murray told Five Live's Sportsweek.

"If I can do that I think I'll give him a good match."

The final, which takes place at 2300 GMT, will be Murray's second following defeat to Roger Federer at the Thailand Open last year.

And his efforts this week mean Murray has already assured himself of a place in the world's top 50 when the new rankings come out on Monday.

"You want to be pushing your ranking in the right direction and to get into the top 50 is a pretty decent achievement at 18 years of age," said the Scot.

"It's come pretty quickly but I feel like I deserve it.

"I didn't have the best start to the year but I've been working very hard and I just had to get a few matches under my belt, get a bit of confidence.

"When that happened I knew I'd start to win a lot."

Meanwhile, 47-year-old John McEnroe is just one victory away from his first doubles title since 1994 after reaching the final with Jonas Bjorkman.

The pair will take on Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas in Sunday's final.

"This should be interesting and we've come this far so we might as well go all the way," said McEnroe.

[sabz]

I think Murray is playing great tennis. Saw the match against Roddick and he timed everything perfectly. Here is some comments about Murray from Roddick and Hewitt:

Lleyton Hewitt on playing Murray: "I was around him in Wimbledon last year. He’s a good ball striker, and he has a strong head on him as well. I think he plays the game smart from the back of the court. He moves exceptionally well around the court for a big guy, and he’s dangerous. He varies the pace very well."

Andy Roddick: “He played well and there were a lot of times where I felt like I hit the ball fine and in the corner and I’d hit three in a row with good speed and good pace and I was back at neutral. It just seemed like I couldn’t get the ball to go through the court like I would have liked and I wasn’t getting as much bite on my serves. It was frustrating and maybe I tried to force a little too much, I don’t know in that situation maybe I should have stayed back and at the end I was doing OK just trying to make him play a little bit and maybe I should have adopted that a little bit earlier, which is strange for an indoor hard court.
I know he can play and he had nothing to lose. I thought he served well and that got him out of trouble a lot, but I felt like I was in most of his service games in the first set and even in the second set. I got some points where I could make a move, he came up with some pretty good first serves, he got good direction on them. He returned well. I hit a bomb at my spot and he'd block it back and I'd be back to neutral again.