Lucky Murray saves five match points to win Shenzhen title

Tuesday, 30 September 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: An emotional Andy Murray thanked his lucky stars after saving five match points before beating Spain’s Tommy Robredo 5-7 7-6(9) 6-1 to win the Shenzhen Open in China on Sunday - his first title since winning Wimbledon last year. The two-time grand slam winner and Olympic champion appeared heading for an upset defeat when he trailed 6-2 in the second set tiebreak, only to reel off four straight points as Robredo tightened when on the brink of victory.

The pair both wasted chances to seal the set as they mixed glorious winners with nervy misses, with Robredo blowing a fifth match point at 7-6, before Murray eventually blasted an unstoppable forehand to take it 11-9 and force a decider. World number 11 Murray then broke Robredo three times in the third with the Spaniard, also chasing a first win of the year, appearing hampered by injury as he failed to chase down balls. The victory at the $ 590,230 outdoor hardcourt event boosted Murray’s hopes of making a sixth appearance at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London in November after he was forced to withdraw from the event last year through injury. The 27-year-old Scot moved up to 10th by adding 250 points to his tally and is within 105 points of Czech Tomas Berdych in the eighth and final qualifying spot. The victory, the 29th of his career, came after a difficult week for the normally shy Briton, who received horrendous abuse on social media for supporting Scottish independence in a referendum earlier this month. THE RACE TO LONDON The season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London in November 1 Novak Djokovic 8150-qualified 2 Roger Federer 7020-qualified 3 Rafa Nadal 6645-qualified 4 Stanislas Wawrinka 4795 5 Marin Cilic 3935 6 Kei Nishikori 3845 7 David Ferrer 3535 8 Tomas Berdych 3510 9 Milos Raonic 3440 10 Andy Murray 3405 11 Grigor Dimitrov 3335 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2650

Kvitova books Singapore berth with Wuhan title Reuters: Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova became the fourth player to qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore after beating Eugenie Bouchard 6-3 6-4 to win the Wuhan Open on Saturday. The Czech world number three took an 80 minutes to tame her Canadian opponent and join Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep who have already booked their places in Singapore. “From the beginning my season was really tough,” Kvitova said after qualifying for her fourth successive WTA Finals. “If somebody told me at the Australian Open that I would win Wimbledon and still be fighting for Singapore, I’m not sure I would have believed them.”

“But I’ve had a great second part of the season. It all started a little bit at the French Open, and from there I just kept improving. I think early on I was expecting too much of myself, and it was really difficult to take the loss in my first round in Australia, but I kept working hard, and now I’m here.” The winner of the re-match of this year’s Wimbledon final was assured of a place in Singapore and Kvitova prevailed again, breaking early in both sets and hanging onto those breaks to win in straight sets. Bouchard was not too unhappy with her performance. “She’s beaten me in two finals this year, so I will have to figure out what to do to beat her now,” she said. “I felt like I played really well this week and the crowd really made me feel at home. Also, this was the first year of this tournament, but it felt like you’ve been doing this for 100 years. It was my first time in Wuhan and I loved it. I kind of want to come back in my off-season.”