Andy Murray has defeated Gilles Simon of France in the fourth round of the Australian Open 2013. Murray won the match in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. This was a brutal performance by the British superstar. He was in tremendous form and he just outplayed his French opponent. This victory took Murray into the quarterfinals.

Before the match, there were a few reports that this match might not happen as Simon was not 100% fit. But, the French player decided to take part in the match.

In the opening set, Murray started with a serve break in the first game, but, Simon recovered immediately and broke Murray’s service in the very next game to equalize the scores. But, Murray got yet another breakthrough in the third game and got ahead by 2-1.

Murray held his service for the first time in the fourth game and he made the score 3-1 in his favour. The next four games went with the serve and at the end of eighth game; Simon was trailed by 3-5. He had to hold his serve in the ninth game to take the set further, but, he didn’t manage to do so. He dropped his serve for the third time in the set and lost the opening set by 3-6.

In the first game of the second set, Murray had a shaky start and he got trailed by 0-30. However, he recovered well and managed to hold his serve to take a lead of 1-0. The Scot broke Simon’s service in the second game and was off to a lead of 2-0. The next couple of games went with the serve and at the end of the fourth game; the scorecard was showing 3-1 in Murray’s favour. After that, Murray got very aggressive. He won the next three games with two consecutive serve breaks and won the second set by 6-1.

In the third set, the first couple of games went with the serve. Murray managed to sneak a breakthrough in the third game and then, he enhanced his lead with an easy serve hold in the fourth game. Both the players held their service in the next four games and at the end of the eighth game; Murray was ahead by 5-3. The world no. 3 got a match point in the ninth game and he was not going to miss out on that opportunity. He broke Simon’s service and won the match.

In the quarter final, Murray will take on Jeremy Chardy of France.

Former British tennis player, Tim Henman, has said that Andy Murray would take his game to the next level and would win many more titles in the upcoming season. The 2012 season was the best season for Murray so far in his career. He won the gold medal in the men’s singles competition of the London Olympics and then, won his maiden Grand Slam title by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final of the US Open. Henman believes that it’s only the start for the 25 years old Scottish superstar and he will ultimately become one of the greatest players in tennis history.

When Henman was asked about Murray’s performance in the 2012 season, he said, “It was a fantastic season for Andy; no doubt about that. But, I personally believe that he is capable of performing much better than that. He has got enormous potential and his temperament has also improved quite a lot in the last one year. He can beat any player in the world on his day.”

“He is not too far away from becoming the no. 1 player in the world. Roger Federer has been a bit inconsistent in the recent times and we don’t know how Rafael Nadal is going to play after that severe knee injury. So, there is a good possibility that Andy would reach the top of the rankings at some point of time in the next season.”

Henman also hailed Murray’s coach Ivan Lendl and said that he has helped Murray a lot in improving his game. Henman said, “Murray’s coach has done a fantastic job. He detected the technical weaknesses in Murray’s game and helped him rectify those weaknesses.”

Murray and his coach are currently in Miami where they are preparing for the Australian Open.

Andy Murray will start the new season by participating in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship which is going to be played from 27^th to 29^th of December at Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex. Murray hadn’t been participating in this tournament since the last three years, but, the British superstar has decided to take part this time around.

Apart from Murray, five other top players will also take part in this tournament. Those five players are Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Janko Tipsarevic. Andy Murray’s first match will be against the no. 9 player in the world Janko Tipsarevic. Continue reading →