Second NY final for Murray

Stewart Fisher

Sports Writer

Sunday 9 September 2012

HURRICANE Andy hit New York on a windswept and interesting Super Saturday.

Andy Murray serves on his way to a four-set triumph over the Czech Republic's Tomas BerdychPhotograph: Reuters

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Stewart Fisher

On a day when gusts overturned chairs, blew off hats, stopped balls dead and generally produced scenes reminiscent of those experienced by Dorothy in Kansas, Andy Murray resolutely refused to be blown off course.

The Olympic champion moved into his fifth Grand Slam final with a satisfying 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) margin over the dangerous Tomas Berdych, in a match played out over a surreal three hours 58 minutes in the teeth of a howling gale.

Murray said: "They are some of the hardest conditions I have played in for sure – and I come from Scotland so that is saying something. From the far side of the court it was very hard to dictate any of the points."I know how hard these tournaments are to win but I will give it everything in the final."Behind the wind was a nasty little tornado which sparked severe weather warnings across New York City and made for a soggy start to the day. It brought an extended episode of horizontal rain which delayed play for 85 minutes, caused the postponement of the women's final for 24 hours, and turned the Arthur Ashe arena into a glorified wind tunnel.Among those seated in the stadium for the match were Sean Connery and his actor pal Kevin Spacey, and, like in a famous scene in Spacey's film American Beauty, a fair amount of this match was spent watching paper bags, crisp packets, and other pieces of assorted debris floating through the air. At times the conditions were borderline unplayable. Serving from one end in particular became an exercise in guesswork, with regular ball toss malfunctions, frequent points invalidated by rogue pieces of litter and even the service radar beeping when no serve had been attempted.While Berdych struggled to adapt, however, the Scot coped with a stoicism perhaps born of learning his trade on some exposed piece of blasted heath near his Stirlingshire home.Murray took all the juice off his serve to the point where you suspected a Michael Chang-style underarm might have been a viable play, getting an excellent 74% of his first serves in play, and sent dizzying, unpredictable lobs into the Queens air when the Czech was brave enough to come in. Mindful of the fact his opponent had won four of their six meetings, not to mention seen off world No 1 Roger Federer in the previous round, Murray was determined to use as much variety as possible to keep the taller man guessing.Such tactics provided an early service break, on the back of a great slice return to an inch of the baseline. But then on break point down, the Olympic Champion's good fortune deserted him when he scooped a drop shot which looked a winner all the way only for his baseball cap to be blown clean off his head. Cue a rare, angry confrontation at the net between the two players, the Czech being booed by the crowd."I'm just asking if you are 100% sure," the Scot said. Berdych, a huge admirer of the Scot's coach and his countryman Ivan Lendl, replied in the affirmative and made the most of his opportunity to put the match back on serve.The next piece of Murray's equipment to hit the ground was his racket, shortly before Berdych nicked a taut 77-minute first set with one of those huge flappy forehands. But his ascendancy was illusory. As he had done against Marin Cilic in the last round, Murray promptly regathered himself and hardly allowed his opponent another game in the second set. He broke to 15 immediately, the headline point including a wind-assisted lob and ludicrous drop volley. The Scot had an 88mph ace in the next game when the ball seemed to spin on its axis, then the double break came in a game littered with double faults when a Berdych forehand skipped off the net and flew long. Murray served out the set confidently, no mean feat considering he had just seeing his chair and kit bag blown all over the court. By now Berdych was lost, playing directionless tennis, his serve surrendered three times in a simple third set. But, typically with the Scot, an unforeseen squally spell was on the way. His imperious form shuddered to a halt when he squandered three break points to establish a 4-0 lead, and before long the Czech had got his break back and prolonged matters into a fourth set tie-break.The Scot had to save one set point and Berdych one match point before one last ground stroke from the Czech caught the wind and flew long. The Stars and Stripes had whipped this way and that above the arena but by and large the Scot had been unflappable. He moves into his fifth Grand Slam final, which will hopefully be played today

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Second NY final for Murray

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