Run-up to Wimbledon: Murray retains Queen’s title

Tsonga fails to hold on after winning first set.

LONDON:

Britain’s Andy Murray clinched his second Queen’s title with a 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 victory over French fifth-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final.

Murray, who also won the Wimbledon warm-up event in 2009, is the first Briton to lift the Queen’s trophy twice since Francis Gordon Lowe achieved his second of three titles in 1914. It was also Murray’s first ATP title since beating Roger Federer at the Shanghai Masters in October and earned the Scot a cheque for $112,000.

More important than any financial gain, this gutsy victory was the perfect confidence boost for the world number four ahead of Wimbledon, which starts in a week’s time.

Murray arrived in west London to begin his grass-court campaign nursing serious concerns over the ankle ligament injury he suffered at the French Open. But the second-seed has been able to put aside those fears as the ankle held up well and the manner of this come-from-behind win will have pleased him even more.

“Tsonga was playing a different sport to me in the first two sets,” said Murray. “He’s so much fun to watch. He was using variation on his serve, and a lot of aggression. But I managed to break him eventually. My ankle has got much better. This has been one of the most funs weeks I’ve had on the tour. I’ve loved it.”

Meanwhile, Tsonga was unable to hide his disappointment.

“Of course there is a bit of frustration,” he said. “I was not far from winning but this is tennis. To win a match you have to take your opportunities and he played a good match.”

Tsonga had beaten Murray in a friendly game of table-tennis as they waited in vain for the rain to relent on Sunday, but it was not a lucky omen for the fifth-seed in the rescheduled final. Tsonga landed the first blow as he broke for a 4-2 lead when he correctly challenged that his forehand was in.

The flamboyant Frenchman has a well-deserved reputation as one of the game’s great entertainers and he showed off his trademark diving volley, as well as an athletic overhead smash, to keep Murray at bay in the next game.

Murray was struggling to find the majestic form that demolished three-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick in less than an hour in the semi-finals but had enough in him to seal the final.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2011.