Murray fights back to book Ferrer final

Andy Murray defeated Richard Gasquet in three sets to reach the final of the Sony Open
30 March 2013

British number one Andy Murray held off a strong challenge from Richard Gasquet to claim a 6-7 (3/7) 6-1 6-2 win and book a place in the Sony Open final against David Ferrer.

Eighth seed Gasquet started like a train before claiming the first set on a tie-break, but Murray asserted his authority in the second and third sets of an entertaining semi-final.

Murray will next take on third seed Ferrer, who beat veteran German Tommy Haas in the opening semi, with the Briton playing both for the title and the number two spot in the world rankings. A win will take him above Roger Federer.

"The first set was a tough one to lose," Murray told Sky Sports 2. "I hit something like 20-odd winners, so to lose it was tough.

"I felt like I was dictating a lot of the points but just made a few unforced errors on the backhand side at the end. I did well in the second and third sets to keep up my intensity."

And Murray said of Gasquet: "He always comes up with unbelievable points. He's incredibly talented. In the tie-break he played two pick-ups off his toes for clean winners. He's in the top 10 in the world and he's playing very well."

On the final against Ferrer, he added: "It will be a tough match. He's had a great week, he's in great shape. He's always tough to play against."

After Gasquet took the first set, the standard noticeably dipped at the start of the second. But some eye-catching defence from Murray, as he hammered a Gasquet overhead straight back at him, helped the Scot to break for 3-1.

That proved to be the turning point in the match. A pinpoint lob helped Murray to another break for 5-1, then he held to love, sealing the set with an ace.

Gasquet received treatment to his feet at the end of the set, but it did nothing to switch the momentum as Murray broke again at the start of the third. Murray contrived to bring his opponent back into the match as two double faults saw him surrender the advantage, but broke again immediately and this time it proved decisive.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in