I knew I was going to have a hard time of it with the Murray Nikolay match; on the one hand I've been wanting to see Murray do well on clay ever since he turned into a pit bull terrier some time around the Gasquet match at Wimbledon last year. His game I thought, if you set aside for the moment the question of dodgy fitness, was particularly well suited to dirt.
But I was also strongly backing 'He whose name shall not be sung', who had returned from injury with convincing wins over Karlovic, Del Potro and Nalbandian. Surely not a problem that Nikolay had already played Daveed early on today?
First set not at all, in fact I thought Nikolay had the upper hand as he yanked Andy this way and that with his relentless array of trusty drives, some drop shots and a particularly well executed backhand volley. The timing of the man, and how early he takes the ball never ceases to amaze me. Murray somehow stuck it out to force a tie break in which Nikolay capitulated. Rust maybe or the result of playing too much in one day?
That's it I thought, Murray's invested too much of himself in that set - he's not going to be able to see this through; and sure enough Nikolay was quickly 4-1 up. But then something funny happened. Murray -- between his usual verbose episodes of self chastisement -- started picking at his hand and occasionally gesturing to his box. Something was clearly not right as he was struggling to keep the ball in court. He's gonna get the trainer on I thought. Nope.
As we were to find out later it was in fact blisters - but what was interesting was the effect this all had on Nikolay who from that point on was no longer himself. I'm pretty sure around 2/3 of his total UFEs materialised after that point. Murray on the other hand, apparently picking up on this, went into grinders overdrive. Nothing wrong with that of course, in fact his defence was some of the best I've seen this year. But I can't help feeling that he would have had the trainer on (and perhaps wouldn't have settled into that defensive rhythm so quickly), had Nikolay kept up the quality of his onslaught.
But it's all good see. Nikolays back with a vengeance. I don't think the loss bothered him that much - getting to quarter final of a Masters event after a lay off from injury (and beating some big, bad bigwigs along the way) is more than he probably expected. And I don't think there's any question of gamesmanship from Murray, and even if there was a little, it was well within what is normally deemed acceptable. Besides it brought about the best exhibition of 'attack v defense' we've probably had this year.
I suppose I ought to mention something about the Djoko-Nando match. Didn't live up to it's billing I'm afraid. Exceptional start from Djoko, although with a helping hand from Nando who didn't really arrive until late in the first set. It then turned into a low-quality test of fortitude. And Djoko looks like he's growing on that front daily. I keep talking about whether or not I think he's 'back' after every performance. Now I'm not even sure what that means.
He's clearly on the up, but I think his return to form seems to be taking the rather more continuous trajectory of a series of performances where he doesn't do more than exactly what is needed. He's also answered some justified questions about his fitness. That was only a three setter, but a pretty tough one. The only difference was that it wasn't hot. The obvious inference I'm drawing is that his fitness problems are rather more to do with heat and the breathing problems he's had nasal surgery for, than more general issues with endurance. If he loses tomorrow he'll have defended his points from last year. And that ain't half bad.
Bit disappointed with Nando. I really thought the clay court season would serve as a homecoming. And with the form he's been in, I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking he'd flourish. Hasn't happened yet, though it's still early days.
But it's all good as I say from Murray and Djoko, who both came through drawn out tests of physical and mental strength in their very different ways.
Singles - Quarter-finals / Simples - Quarts de Finale
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [WC] I Ljubicic (CRO) 63 63
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) d [7] F Verdasco (ESP) 62 46 63
[4] A Murray (GBR) d [8] N Davydenko (RUS) 76(1) 64
[13] S Wawrinka (SUI) d [Q] A Beck (GER) 62 64
(Murray Image: Reuters)
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