adminA bizarre final set started with six successive breaks of serve as both players battled exhaustion in the brutal conditions in a match that started in the middle of the day.
Such were the fine margins that Ferrer would have won the match had a dramatic challenge gone his way when he held match point at 6-5 in the third set.
But Murray survived it and went on to take the tie-break for the loss of just one point with Ferrer barely able to run at the end of the two hours 45 minute confrontation.
Murray, who is Miami champion for the second time, said: “It was such a tough match, it could have gone either way and both of us were struggling physically.
“He’s one of the best players in the world and every time I play against him, people expect me to win.
“He has a great attitude, he’s a great fighter, I don’t think he played his best tennis and he still could have won the match. It was a strange match. I just managed to fight well in incredibly difficult conditions.
“That sort of match a couple of years ago I probably would have lost…I was up a break three or four times in the third set and kept letting him back in through some loose shots. I kept fighting, chased down every ball, made it as hard for him as possible. There was a lot riding on the match and I was glad to get through in the end.”
Ferrer, the Spanish clay-court specialist who himself moved past countryman Rafael Nadal to go fourth in the world thanks to his performance in Florida, did not concede a game in the first half hour and eventually ran out 6-2 winner of the first set.
But Murray recovered to win the next two sets and rises to second in the world for the first time since a brief spell in 2009.
Murray spends three months of the year in Florida working on his fitness, and he will remain there for a few days’ rest before he starts preparations for the clay-court season. He has now won 26 titles worldwide, but clay remains his last unconquered frontier and he admits: “I will keep trying to improve my clay-court game. I need to serve better. It’s easier to return on clay so it’s even more important to serve well.”
Ferrer said: “It was a very long match but Andy deserved the victory more.”
Meanwhile, ass a dramatic men’s final at the Sony Open neared its conclusion in a winner-take-all tiebreaker, Murray waged a 28-shot exchange with Ferrer who was left so exhausted by the rally he crumpled to the court.
CBS viewers missed it. They also missed seeing Murray accept the trophy after he erased a championship point on Sunday and rallied past Ferrer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).
An 11:30am start on Easter Sunday turned out not to be early enough for CBS. The network cut away when the final went to the tiebreaker, switching to the tipoff of the NCAA tournament game between Michigan and Florida.
‘’It’s obviously a shame that people didn’t get to see the end of what I think was a pretty exciting match,’’ Murray said. ‘’But that’s the way it goes sometimes.’’
Tennis Channel televised the end of the match, and CBS later showed a replay of match point.
‘’We stayed with tennis as long as we could,’’ a CBS spokeswoman said.
The final was filled with grinding baseline rallies, including at least a dozen of more than 20 strokes and one lasting 34.
At 2 hours, 45 minutes, the match was the longest of the men’s tournament, and the end ran a few minutes past the scheduled start of Michigan-Florida.
Sony Open tournament director Adam Barrett said CBS officials had a commitment to show basketball. — AFP.
Online Reporter