Murray grinds out win over Bolelli

Andy Murray
12 April 2012

Andy Murray battled his way into the third round of the French Open with a gutsy 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 7-5 victory over dangerous lucky loser Simone Bolelli.

The world number four struggled to find his best form in very tricky conditions but showed terrific spirit to come through in straight sets on Court Philippe Chatrier.

An opponent ranked 126th in the world who lost in the final round of qualifying did not look too daunting on paper but Bolelli was in the top 40 two years ago and is no mug, particularly on clay.

The Italian showed just that in the first game, pushing Murray way behind the baseline with big groundstrokes and forcing him to save two break points. He was not to be denied in Murray's next service game, though, shrugging off the loss of three break points to take a fourth courtesy of a double-fault.

Bolelli committed four unforced errors in a row to hand his advantage straight back, but broke again to lead 3-2 as Murray struggled for consistency on his serve in cool and windy conditions. A break point came and went in the eighth game but, with Bolelli serving for the set, Murray dug in and levelled at 5-5.

The wind whipping up the dry clay was making it difficult for both players but the 24-year-old used it to his advantage to save two more break points and then created two set points in the next game only for Bolelli to come up with the goods.

The tie-break was a nervy affair, but it was Murray who kept his cool the best to clinch the set with a drilled backhand down the line. It must have been a tough set to lose for the Italian, who was the better player for a large part of it, and he carried that disappointment into the second set as Murray broke to love in the first game.

But the fourth seed was still struggling with his serve and two double-faults allowed Bolelli to break back to love. Unlike in the first set, though, Murray seemed broadly in control of the match now. A second break of serve duly arrived in the seventh game and from there it was a straightforward process for the Scot to serve out the set .

Murray had a glorious chance to break in the seventh game of the decider when he went up 0-40 on the Bolelli serve but he let his opponent off the hook, and the fourth seed was made to pay in the next game. He saved two break points, but on the third a sliced backhand sat up nicely for Bolelli to smack away.

The Italian had not shown himself to be the best at serving for the set, though, and so it proved again as some wayward shots coupled with clever Murray play brought him back on level terms. The Scot then made it two breaks in a row and served for the match, capping his triumph with a backhand winner.

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