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boogers
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Murray eases past Simon « on: April 14, 2011, 04:56 PM »
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Andy Murray produces another strong performance to beat Frenchman Gilles Simon in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters, 6-3 6-3.

An ankle injury to Simon at the end of the first set turned a highly competitive match into something of a procession, but Murray will be pleased with his performance. The Scot was again dominant from the baseline, mixing some trademark impenetrable defence with considered offence.

After swapping early breaks, both players struggled to hold serve until Murray capitalised on some sloppy play from the Frenchman to break for 4-3. He further strengthened his position with a love service hold, forcing Simon to serve to stay in the set. Murray maintained the pressure and held set point when the Frenchman stumbled and rolled his ankle. Perhaps distracted by his opponents distress, Murray missed the chance to seal the set and Simon was forced to take a medical timeout. After lengthy attention from the medical staff, the Frenchman resumed but was unable to save the set.

Simon was now clearly struggling to move and switched to all out attack, briefly putting the Scot on the back foot. To the obvious displeasure of the French dominated crowd, Murray soon adjusted to this and began to ruthlessly exploit the Frenchman's lack of mobility. Dropshot after dropshot went unanswered, the boos became louder and Murray's normal poker expression was replaced with a delighted grin. The outcome was never in doubt, even when Simon managed to claw a break back with some wild hitting.

Next up is Frederico Gil, the Portuguese qualifier.
[ Last edit by Mark April 14, 2011, 10:08 PM ] IP Logged
Mark
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #1 on: April 14, 2011, 05:03 PM »
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Who would have thought it, Murray finding his form on clay.
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Caz
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #2 on: April 14, 2011, 05:11 PM »
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Quote from: boogers on April 14, 2011, 04:56 PM
Andy Murray produces another strong performance to beat Frenchman Gilles Simon in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters, 6-3 6-3.

More to follow.
Awwww did you draw the short straw for the whole week? I hope I never get asked to do it......I'd be rubbish!
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scotsgeek28
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #3 on: April 14, 2011, 05:45 PM »
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This is turning out to be a good week, and there is no reason Andy can't beat Gil, indeed he should be beating him.  Admittedly from what little I managed to watch of this one Simon did seem to have a bit injured, but it is refreshing to have the confident Andy back, rather than the pale shadow of an elite tennis player we saw in north america.

All good so far, let's keep it going, and then have a real crack at Nadal and see how he matches up.
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ChrisMac
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #4 on: April 14, 2011, 07:04 PM »
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Well Done Andy  yay Good to see the old Andy back, great attitude these past few days. 'Rebel Rebel' band Keep the long hair Andy!!
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Aileen
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #5 on: April 14, 2011, 07:26 PM »
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Quote from: Mark on April 14, 2011, 05:03 PM
Who would have thought it, Murray finding his form on clay.
Andy likes to surprise his fans. Smile

Thought the first set was a solid workmanlike performance from Murray, although once again the 1st serve percentage was poor.

The second set was unfortunate but Murray did what was necessary, even although the French crowd were loud in expressing their displeasure at the drop shots he played which he knew Simon couldn't reach - but that's sport.  Simon showed a great deal of guts, and possibly a lot of stupidity, by carrying on playing even when his physio was pleading with him to stop, and to his credit he was finding a way round his injury by changing his game plan, something which might have worked had Murray not been totally ruthless.  This quote from the BBC says it all really -

Asked afterwards if he had been concerned by the boos that followed his drop shots in the second set, Murray responded: "I wasn't bothered at all. I was doing what I had to.

"Every player on the tour would have done exactly the same thing. I wasn't doing anything wrong. We'll see the reaction tomorrow."

Simon backed his opponent, saying :"You play to win."
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Clydey
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #6 on: April 14, 2011, 09:51 PM »
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Quote from: Mark on April 14, 2011, 05:03 PM
Who would have thought it, Murray finding his form on clay.

This is actually what happened last season. Took him until Rome/Madrid to hit some form, though.
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scotsgeek28
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #7 on: April 14, 2011, 11:44 PM »
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The draw has been kind here.  No reason for him not to win tomorrow really, which is a shame as I won't be able to watch his semi against Rafa.  He will just have to beat the spaniard so I can watch him in the final on sunday against Fed.
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iamabritt
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #8 on: April 14, 2011, 11:57 PM »
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Just watched a bit of video of andy today.he is grinning so big when the jeers stared.Good win . good luck
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Aileen
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #9 on: April 15, 2011, 04:22 AM »
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Having had a look at three British newspapers online, not one of them has criticised Murray for playing his drop shots against Simon when he was injured, and neither has the leading French sports newspaper L'Equipe - in fact Simon is quoted there as saying that he would have responded similarly against an injured player - so this matter has simply been a storm in a teacup.
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adb..OH
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #10 on: April 15, 2011, 04:23 AM »
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Catnap said it all:  "Well I'd much rather Andy hit dropshots than lose concentration and let Simon back in the match! Simon is so great at turning seemingly impossible match situations around, so it was important for Andy to keep his advantage - hitting dropshots was the way to do it in this situation. I'm sure players like Rafa and Roger would have done the same thing." and I'm glad that 99.99% agree.

Good job, Andy!  Do it again! We're loving it.
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alliwantiseverything
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #11 on: April 15, 2011, 08:27 AM »
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Quote from: iamabritt on April 14, 2011, 11:57 PM
Just watched a bit of video of andy today.he is grinning so big when the jeers stared.Good win . good luck

would you happen to have a link to the video?
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OldScotSupport
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #12 on: April 15, 2011, 09:42 AM »
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Well done, Andrew. Nothing more to add
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Bevc
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #13 on: April 15, 2011, 11:49 AM »
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Quote from: Aileen on April 14, 2011, 07:26 PM
Andy likes to surprise his fans. Smile

Thought the first set was a solid workmanlike performance from Murray, although once again the 1st serve percentage was poor.

The second set was unfortunate but Murray did what was necessary, even although the French crowd were loud in expressing their displeasure at the drop shots he played which he knew Simon couldn't reach - but that's sport.  Simon showed a great deal of guts, and possibly a lot of stupidity, by carrying on playing even when his physio was pleading with him to stop, and to his credit he was finding a way round his injury by changing his game plan, something which might have worked had Murray not been totally ruthless.  This quote from the BBC says it all really -

Asked afterwards if he had been concerned by the boos that followed his drop shots in the second set, Murray responded: "I wasn't bothered at all. I was doing what I had to.

"Every player on the tour would have done exactly the same thing. I wasn't doing anything wrong. We'll see the reaction tomorrow."

Simon backed his opponent, saying :"You play to win."

Just watched the match.  My counting my be off, but imo Andy hit 5 drop shots in the 1st set and won 4 of them.  He hit 9 in the 2nd set and won 6 of them, so only 2 more points won really.  The French crowd were on Andy's back when he played a drop shot after Simon pulled up a 2nd time.  Good for him if he smiled when they were jeering.  They were quite happy when Simon was winning points.
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scotsgeek28
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Re: Murray eases past Simon « Reply #14 on: April 15, 2011, 01:08 PM »
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Melzer downs Fed in fine style, this is turning out to be quite an interesting week.  All we need now is Nadal to head out as well....not much chance of that though!
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