Kooyong 2007: Andy Over Murray

In the fourth Battle of the Andy’s to date, and their first meeting this year, Roddick surpassed the Brit one more time in the semifinals at the AAMI Kooyong Classic, 6-4, 6-4, to advance into the finals to defend his title.

Today’s weather was a bit cooler but both players heated things up pretty quickly and kept pressuring each other for the duration of the match. At 2-1, Murray pushed Roddick’s serve to deuce, the two battled back and forth for advantages a few times, but Roddick prevailed holding serve. Murray was hitting long all day, and hit one too many long on his serve with Roddick’s advantage and Andy took the lead at 4-2, and he went on to win 6-4.

“He’s a good player, an amazing feel for the game,” Roddick said on Murray’s game. “He constructs points well and it’s always a mind game playing him because he’s a little tricky.”

The tricks weren’t enough though as Roddick pulled a rabbit out of his own Lacoste cap with a drop shot return, Murray’s quick feet saved the ball and the point though. The second set started with a double break point that Roddick didn’t convert, and then it was the two Andy’s feeding each other bagels and taking games. At 4-4, Roddick stepped it up and forced the errors on Murray. Some beautiful attempts landed just outside the lines, but Murray’s long ball at 30-40 gave Roddick the break, and he took the set and the match on his serve, with the winning point being an over head smash.

Aces and first serve percentage were both on the lower side today, but the rest of Roddick’s game was in good form which helped him earn and convert the two key break points to win the match. “I get another shot at Roger, which is always good,” Andy said smiling in his press conference. Stay tuned for more from Down Under. Go Andy!