Andy Murray may, at the age of 27, be the man with two Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal to his name, and may long have been bracketed in the illustrious company of ‘the big four’ with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, but when it comes to playing the 30-year-old No24 seed, Fernando Verdasco, the match was always likely to be a challenge of the highest order.
On paper, Murray was the player with the upper hand, a nine-to-one advantage since their first match in 2007, as well as 28 titles to Verdasco’s six. And the left-handed Spaniard had yet to count a Masters title in his resume, let alone a Major. Indeed his best ever Grand Slam showing was a single semi finish in Australia in 2009, though he was playing in his 44th consecutive Major in a run dating back to 2003.
Yet Murray suggested his opponent may have the edge when it came to clay, and there was some method in his madness. Murray has yet to win a title on clay while four of Verdasco’s have come on the red stuff—most recently in Houston this season. Murray has yet to reach a final on clay, while eight of Verdasco’s 13 finals have been on red dirt, and his only Masters final appearance was in Monte Carlo.
But while Roland Garros may currently stand as Murray’s least successful Major, he has been a semi-finalist, losing to Nadal in 2011, and twice a quarter-finalist, losing to David Ferrer the last time he played here in 2012. He pulled out last year with a back injury that would eventually require surgery come the autumn.
This year, too, Murray has shown his proficiency on clay, playing outstanding tennis to take a 6-1 opening set against Nadal in the Rome quarters before losing 5-7 in the third.
Verdasco, however, could also claim that Roland Garros has been his least successful Major. He has reached at the least the quarters in the other three but never got beyond the fourth round in Paris. Could he do so for the first time this year?
As well as talking up Verdasco ahead of this their first clay meeting, Murray went on—rightly—to point to the Spaniard’s strength across the board:
“Not many people think I play particularly well on clay, so I would say that would give [Verdasco] an edge there. He’s obviously had some good results on clay. But he plays well on every surface, indoors, and he’s had good results on grass.”
The reference to grass was especially pertinent: Few who watched Murray’s campaign to win Wimbledon last year will forget the gripping five-set contest between these two in the quarters. It was Verdasco who won the first two sets before Murray came back to take the match, 7-5, in the fifth.
And it has been on the biggest stages that Verdasco has tested Murray most vigorously. Their first ever meeting, in Australia, may have gone to Murray in just three sets but it took two hours 48 minutes. And their next Major meeting, again in Australia, went to Verdasco in five sets.
At the end of that same year, the World Tour Finals of 2009, it took three hours and three sets to go Murray’s way. Their Wimbledon marathon of last year has been their only match since.
Murray was returning to Roland Garros’s second court, Suzanne Lenglen for the third time—or more accurately, for a fourth time, as he was forced yesterday to complete a 12-10 fifth set against Philipp Kohlschreiber. The No7 seed has yet to play on the centre court here, but that meant he was at least more familiar with the conditions than Verdasco. Though the Spaniard was also playing for a third consecutive day, he completed his three-set victory over Richard Gasquet on Philippe Chatrier.
Not that Verdasco wanted for long contests: his second-round match went to four hours and five sets. And as the articulate man from Madrid pointed out:
“Playing Murray is never easy. He has wonderful tennis, and he won Grand Slams already, so I think he deserves all my respect. It’s not going to be an easy match.”
Murray broke in the third game, despite making just one winner to Verdasco’s seven, but the Spaniard hit straight back, playing aggressive tennis with some strong serving and thus far a better winner-error balance than Murray.
Verdasco came under increasing pressure in the ninth, though, and made a flurry of backhand errors to give Murray the key break. Three more Spanish errors ensured an easy love hold for Murray for the set, 6-4.
Murray was then the first to get a break chance in third game of the second, despite a tally of nine errors already, but Verdasco held on, and did so against an increasing tide of terrific defence and line clipping from Murray. The Briton gradually forced more errors from his opponent, pinning the Spaniard at the back of the court. Increasingly, Verdasco faced an uphill battle on his own serve and sure enough, Murray broke in the 11th game to serve for the second set.
Verdasco found a couple of big forehands and attacked the net for a smash winner to stave off set point, but Murray had too much variety and pace and took the set, 7-5, with a backhand winner.
Murray wasted little time in breaking in the third, and with two hours on the clock, was 3-1 up. His serving percentage headed upwards with each set—now at over 70 per cent—and he looked comfortable, but failed to convert numerous break points as Verdasco held for 2-3.
The eighth game, though, brought a momentum shift as Verdasco aced on game point only to have it called out: Murray conceded the point, but a furious Verdasco was now pumped up, he broke, and then took a 5-4 lead. It would take a tie-break as the set headed beyond an over the hour, and Murray raced to 3-0 only to see Verdasco change ends at 3-3. The Spaniard though, distracted rather than focused, made too many errors and Murray closed the match in style, 7-3.
Murray ended the match with more unforced errors and fewer winners than had Verdasco, but that belied a performance of intelligence, variety and fine clay skill from the No7 seed. It was, perhaps, his most complete performance of the year on the red dirt.
His next opponent will be No23 seed Gael Monfils, who kept French title hopes alive by reaching the home Major’s quarter-finals for a fourth time, beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.
The other top-half quarter-final was already decided before Murray took to court: A repeat of last year’s final. World No5 Ferrer reached his 10th successive Grand Slam quarter-final over Kevin Anderson, though it took longer than their match at the same stage here last year, which Ferrer won for the loss of just five games. This time, Ferrer lost a bruising third-set tie-break before racing back in the fourth, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1.
It marks Ferrer’s fifth quarter-final in Paris in 12 appearances—but the mountain to the semis, let alone another final, is unenviable. As expected, Nadal raced through the No83-ranked Serb, Dusan Lajovic, with little trouble, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, to record his 63rd win at Roland Garros. Nadal’s only loss in the French Open came in 2009 to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
Ferrer may, though, be just a little more confident this year, having beaten Nadal on clay for the first time in 10 years in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals.
Should Ferrer achieve the near-impossible of defeating eight-time champion Nadak, he will have to contend with Murray or Monfils in the semis. As for the finals, the bottom half of the draw is headed by many people’s favourite for the title, Djokovic, but he is joined in a strong line-up by No6 seed Tomas Berdych against No18 Ernests Gulbis, and the Serb’s own opponent, No8 seed Milos Raonic playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final.