ATP Antwerp: Murray has been successful for a long time in a final
Andy Murray reached the final at the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Antwerp. The former world number one won in the semifinals of the endowed with 711,275 euros indoor hard court tournament in Belgium the Frenchman Ugo Humbert (ATP 70) with 3: 6, 7: 5, 6: 2.
by Robert M. Frank
last edit: Nov 11, 2019, 03:11 pm
It has been over 31 months since Andy Murray had been in an endgame at an ATP Tour tournament. Most recently, the 32-year-old Brit succeeded in March 2017 in Dubai. Since then, the 45-time ATP champion struggled with injury problems that had forced him to take a long break. At first, Murray had come slowly back from this obsessive-compulsive break.
In Antwerp, the three-time Grand Slam winner now seems to have returned to the old form. After his previous successes against Kimmer Coppejans (ATP 158), against the number eight seeded Pablo Cuevas (ATP 45) and most recently in the quarter-final against Marius Copil (ATP 92) Murray had flashed against Umbert his old class.
In the semifinals, however, first caught the 21-year-old Frenchman the better start. While Murray let two break options lie idle, Humbert managed a break on the opposite side, which ended in a 6: 3 set win. In the second round, Murray then gave the left-hander more difficult tasks and played out his routine. After the two-time Wimbledon champion had once taken his counterpart service, Humbert could indeed respond with a rebreak. However, a double mistake by the Frenchman gave Murray a 7: 5 win at the score of 6: 5.
Final against Wawrinka
In the third round Murray presented with a break and was in the meantime with 3: 0 in the lead. The veteran did not give up this advantage until the end and won 6: 2. "It's cool to be back," said Murray, looking ahead to the final.
In the final Murray meets Stan Wawrinka (ATP 18), who defeated South African talent Jannik Sinner (ATP 119) 6: 3, 6: 2 in his semi-final .