Andy Murray Enters Queen's Final for Fourth Time
Andy Murray will be playing his fourth Queen's final -- his first final on grass since his historic Wimbledon triumph in 2013.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: June 21, 2015 05:41 pm IST
Andy Murray successfully completed the first part of his hectic Queen's Club schedule as the world number three reached the final with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Serbia's Viktor Troicki.
Heavy rain on Saturday had forced the suspension of Murray's semi-final in the first set and left the Scot needing to do double duty on Sunday to win the Wimbledon warm-up event for a record-equalling fourth time.
The 28-year-old will be playing his fourth Queen's final -- and his first final on grass since his historic Wimbledon triumph in 2013 -- when he faces South Africa's Kevin Anderson in a match scheduled to start not before 1425 BST. (Murray Wants to Learn Secrets of Jose Mourinho's Success)
It will be Murray's 50th tour-level final and his fifth of a season which has included titles in Madrid and Munich and runners-up finishes at the Australian Open and the Miami Masters. (Tsonga in Wimbledon Fitness Fight)
Anderson will be well rested after blitzing his way into his first Queen's final with 34 aces in a 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 win over French seventh seed Gilles Simon on Saturday, taking his tally for the tournament to 96.
But Murray isn't too concerned about his busy schedule as he has already won twice in a day this year, seeing off Lukas Rosol and Roberto Bautista Agut to clinch the Munich title last month.
"I'll see my physio, get stretched out, get some food and shower. I enjoy playing big servers. My return has always been the strongest part of my game," Murray said.
Murray has now won all seven of his meetings with Troicki, who was unable to exact revenge for some scathing criticism from the Scot over his refusal to take a drugs test in 2013.
Branded "unprofessional" by Murray and given an 18-month ban that was eventually reduced to a year, Troicki had managed to rebuild his career impressively, rising to 25th in the rankings and reaching the Stuttgart final last week.
- Sublime lob -
But Murray was beginning to dictate the tempo on Saturday before the rain arrived at 3-3, just after Troicki needed a medical time-out when his shoulder had popped out and back in again after an awkward stumble.
On the resumption of play on Sunday morning, Murray immediately broke with a fine drop shot and then sublime lob on the run for a 4-3 lead.
Troicki, playing in a pair of brightly coloured sunglasses, looked tentative as he tested out his injury and a woefully miscued smash into the net was followed by a double fault to gift-wrap the first set for Murray.
The Scot had dropped just two points since the restart, but there were signs he may have got a little overconfident when he indulged in a rare spot of banter with the crowd, shouting 'ta' in response to a cry of 'good shot' from a spectator.
Soon after that moment of levity, the two-time Grand Slam winner found himself in trouble as he drilled a backhand into the net to give Troicki a break in the fifth game.
The rude awakening jolted Murray back to his 'A' game and he broke back for 4-4 when Troicki dumped a volley into net.
Troicki was still a danger with his big serve and clever ground-strokes and Murray had to stay on top form as a high-class second set peaked in the tie-break when the Scot won a majestic match point to seal his morning's work in just over an hour.