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Sunday, July 8, 2012

Federer in 7th heaven as Murray falls short once again

Roger Federer claimed his 7th Wimbledon title to disappoint Andy Murray and the raucous home support. Federer has now equalled Pete Sampras's record total of wins at SW19.

Despite a strong start from the Scot, winning the first set, new world number one Federer proved to be too strong for Murray, and has now won a remarkable 17 Grand Slam titles.

It all started perfectly for Murray. He held serve comfortably in the opening game before striking an early break to the Federer serve, albeit aided by an unusually nervous start from his opponent.

Federer responded like a multi-slam winner, breaking back immediately but the Swiss was surprisingly wayward throughout that first set with an extremely high amount of unforced errors. There was something almost strangely inevitable about what followed. And Murray duly broke the Federer serve once more in the tenth game of the set to take an early advantage in this epic match.

The man from Basel was subdued and wayward throughout the opening exchanges and he failed to convince for large parts of the second set but then as the set inexorably headed towards a tie break Federer struck, cobra-like. In the flash of a second Federer broke, decisively to win the set 7-5. The momentum had swung and the rain started to pour.

Just in time, many thought, for Murray to have a breather and collect his thoughts. It seemed like perfect timing for Murray. In that sense it probably was as something was needed to stem the tide.

Yet as the roof closed and the players returned it was Federer that seemed to have increased his powers and then came 'that' game. Both players held relatively comfortably until Federer led 3-2. An unbelievable backhand from Federer gave him two break points but Murray responded brilliantly to take the game to deuce. Nine more deuces followed with some sumptuous shots from Federer, before the Swiss finally broke, after nearly 20 minutes of play. Murray crucially slipping as he was lobbed just prior to being broken at the sixth time of asking. Unbelievable.

Federer began to open up his famous forehand, though it was still littered with unforced errors, and Murray just could not live with his opponent as a two sets to one lead became inevitable.

Murray struggled to hold on from here and when the new world number one broke mid-way through the fourth set all seemed set for Federer.

Yet Murray had one last chance. At 15-30 on the Federer serve Murray opened a forehand of his own, only to get too excited and go long. With that any last chance of glory was gone and Federer closed out for victory as Murray had nothing left in the tank.

A grand slam still seems possible for Murray, but maybe this was his best chance at Wimbledon gone. Federer showed shines of the great play of yesteryear at times here, but he was there for the taking, particularly the unforced errors gifting Murray an early lead.

Still there are question marks over the mental toughness of Murray, particularly when the going got tough. There were the petulant remarks aimed in no particular direction as the match slipped away that you never seemed to see from the top players.

When the players return here in a few weeks for the upcoming Olympics, Federer will now be looking for a gold medal to complete his remarkable collection, whilst Murray will have to wipe away the tears, re-group and respond. Good luck with that.