The Sunday Mail
World number two Andy Murray yesterday recovered from a slow start to surge into the final of the China Open with victory over Spain’s David Ferrer.Murray was a break down in the opening set before hitting back to win the next five games in a row on his way to a 6-2 6-3 win in exactly 90 minutes in Beijing.
The 29-year-old will face either Grigor Dimitrov in today’s final after recording his seventh consecutive victory over Ferrer, who ultimately lacked the firepower to upset the top seed.
Ferrer, who lost to Murray in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January, broke for a 2-1 lead in the first set but was immediately broken back to love.
Consecutive double faults then gave Murray three more break points in the sixth game and although Ferrer saved two, a backhand which drifted over the baseline gave Murray a 4-2 lead.
Another break of serve saw Murray take the opening set after 48 minutes and the double Olympic champion raced into a 3-1 lead in the second before surprisingly losing his serve. However, that proved to be a momentary lapse in concentration and Murray immediately broke Ferrer’s serve once more before wrapping up an impressive win.
The final provides Murray will opportunity to get more points on the board in his quest to become world number one for the first time in his career.
Serbian Novak Djokovic currently stands as world number one with 14,040 points, although Murray is hot on his tails.
Murray currently has 9,345 world ranking points to his name. ‘I think obviously trying to reach number one is a goal,’ Murray told reporters in Beijing this week.-Dailymail.
