Andy Murray put on an impressive defensive display to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat yesterday in the Washington Citi Open against a red hot Kyle Edmund who was hitting forehand winners left, right and centre.
Murray who managed to pinch the first set in a tie break was hit right off the court in the second set as he went down 6-1 to Edmund to draw the match level at 1-1. At this point there looked only one winner - Edmund. But in typical Murray fashion he once again turned the tables on Edmund at 5-4 in the final set and on Edmund's serve. One point made the difference in the whole match and it was out of the Andy Murray play book. At 30-15 to Edmund, Murray chased down what seemed to be a lost cause with Edmund pressing forward with a typical ferocious forehand. But Murray dug the ball out way behind the baseline with a lofted defensive lob that pushed Edmund back to the baseline and forced an error on a smash. This lead to a nervy double fault by Edmund giving Murray match point which he took with an excellent return of serve.
What Makes Murray a True Grand Slam Champion?
What makes Murray a true tennis champion is not his forehand or his backhand - he barely hit's any winners, it's his ability to force errors from his opponents off shots that any other player with the exception of Djokovic perhaps would concede to the aggressor. This means every return game for someone like Murray is an opportunity to break serve. If you need convincing take a look at this return of serve against a 147mph Raonic serve at Wimbledon. Murray has an Agassi like defensive quality to his game.
Edmund Should Take Encouragement from His Performance
Edmund shouldn't be too disheartened by his defeat to Murray. In the second set he produced some stunning tennis that destroyed Murray's service game and if he continues to produce tennis like that and up's his consistency level throughout an entire match, he will claim his first ATP title very soon - perhaps this year even!
Murray to Play a Much Weaker Copil in the Next Round
Murray can enjoy a much weaker challenge in the next round and perhaps focus on parts of his game that are still a little rusty after returning from injury including being more aggressive when on the front foot against an opponent. Obviously against someone like Kyle that is very hard to do due to his aggressive style of play but against Marius Copil (ranked 93rd in the world) this is something he should definitely be looking to do. Obviously all opponents must be respected but 90 plus ranked Copil is certainly no Kyle Edmund. I'd like to see Murray take the game to Copil and clean up in two straight sets with breaks of serve to match and not just rest on his defensive laurels.
Still Alot of Work to Do
Let's not get carried away, this is Murray's first win against a top 20 player after returning from injury. There's some big names and opponents left in this tournament, Zverev, Nishikori, Goffin and Chung to name a few but from Murray's display yesterday you can really see he wants to win this tournament and pick up from where he left off. He made both the French and Wimbledon grand slam semi's last year and that was when his injury started to play up so I wouldn't put it past him to pull a rabbit out of his hat and atleast make the final here. He certainly can win the Washington Title using the victory against Edmund as his spring board.
Anyone looking for an outside bet, Murray could be a good one as the outright winner. I haven't managed to get the odds on him winning Washington as play is still going on as I write this article so it will be interesting to see how much weight the bookies put behind this victory against Edmund.
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