Murray targets his first grand slam career title
Posted on September 1, 2008
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Scot Andy Murray needed nearly four hours to get past Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-7(5) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-1 6-3 in a marathon third round match at the US$20.6 million US Open.
Murray posted 18 aces during his comeback from two sets down against Melzer at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in front of a crowd of about 1,200. The sixth seeded Murray advanced to the fourth round where he will play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and equalled his best performance at the US Open, when he reached the last 16 in 2006 before losing to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in four sets. Now, however, Murray believes he has a genuine chance of going much further in the championship.
“I think when you’re at a tournament like this, there is a chance that I could win the tournament,” Murray said following his 6-7 (5-7) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-3 victory over the 48th-ranked Melzer.
“So I say to myself, ‘you know, I’m going to give it my best shot to try and win’. That’s my goal for the tournament, to try to win it.”
“I don’t think that if you set yourself a target of the third round and you reach it, you can feel like you’ve achieved what you came here to do.”
“I think it’s better to set the bar high and maybe you don’t reach it.”
“I might not necessarily win this tournament, but if I go with the intention of doing it, it might not come as such a surprise if I do go deep.”
Murray claimed he felt comfortable with most aspects of his game as he approached his next match with Wawrinka.
“I think I’m hitting the ball well,” he said. “I just feel like my return game needs to get better, try to create a few more opportunities on the return.”
“I don’t think I’m hitting a lot of unforced errors. I feel like I’m moving well and I feel fit.”
“I think if I just improve the returning, my chances in the next match will be good.”
Head to head, Murray and Wawrinka are tied at three victories apiece yet all the Scot’s wins have come in their four hardcourt meetings, with two of the Swiss player’s coming on clay.
Murray also has current form on his side, having won three of their four most recent encounters, the latest in Toronto at the end of July.
Despite his marathon duel with Melzer, Murray will have one more advantage over Wawrinka other than his seeding - the Swiss Olympic doubles-winning partner of Roger Federer spent even longer on court on Saturday than the Scot. Wawrinka also had to come back from two sets down against Italian Flavio Cipolla, the world number 142, needing four hours and 14 minutes to seal victory.
Murray insisted he felt “fine” and had no problems following his victory and paid tribute to fitness trainers Matt Little and Jez Green for getting him into peak condition.
The 21-year-old Murray burst on to the scene this year by winning three of his six career singles titles. He is in the midst of one of the most productive runs of his career having won 15 of his last 17 ATP matches, losing only to world No.1 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the semifinals in Montreal. During that stretch two of his victories were over Serbian star Novak Djokovic whom he beat in the final in Cincinnati and a week earlier at the quarterfinals in Montreal.
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