Murray Stuns Hewitt for ATP San Jose WinPosted on February 20, 2006 Brit-Scot Andy Murray, while his ranking may not reflect it, completed his ascension into the upper echelon of players on the ATP Sunday, following up his upset of former No. 1 Andy Roddick Saturday with a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) victory over former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt to claim his first ATP title at San Jose.
"This is the biggest moment of my life in tennis so far," Murray said. "The first two match points he hit two aces and I was getting a bit nervous, but I came through. This is perfect." Murray balanced aggression with playing to Hewitt's weakness, taking pace off the ball with slice so the Aussie was forced to generate his own power, his Achilles' Heel. The 18-year-old Murray will now move into the Top 50 for the first time on the ATP Rankings. After splitting the first two sets, Murray broke early for a 2-0 then 4-2 lead in the third, but Hewitt levelled the match at 4-4. Murray held a match point with Hewitt serving 4-5 but the Aussie erased it with an ace. Murray jumped to a 6-3 lead in the tiebreak, then finalized with a cross-court backhand winner. "I just wasn't getting any cheap points out there, but to his credit he was hardly missing too many returns," said Hewitt, who had serving problems with 11 double faults. In the doubles final John McEnroe capped his tour pseudo-doubles comeback with partner Jonas Bjorkman, defeating unseeded Americans Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas 7-6, 4-6, 10-7 for his 78th career title, tying Tom Okker for No. 2 on the all-time list, now five titles behind Todd Woodbridge. "The key to success is working together with your partner and picking a good partner. Not surprisingly it came down to the final tiebreaker and the right team won," said a smiling McEnroe. |
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