Murray beats Tsonga, faces Djokovic for semi-final spot

02 September 2014 10:01

Former champion Andy Murray beat the stifling New York heat and France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Monday to reach the US Open quarter-finals -- where he'll face the even tougher test of Novak Djokovic.

Murray, slow out of the blocks this season after back surgery late in 2013, has now reached at least the quarter-finals of every Grand Slam tournament he has played for the past four years.

However, he hasn't reached a final since his epic Wimbledon triumph of 2013, and even after taking care of Tsonga 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 he wasn't about to start predicting that this week would see him reverse that depressing trend.

"You never know, to be honest," Murray said. "I feel like I'm playing well. I'm going to have to play extremely well to win the event or even just get through to the next match.

"You never know what can happen in a couple of days. A week ago I didn't feel great at all," added Murray who struggled with debilitating cramps in his first-round win over Robin Haase last week. "Now I'm in the quarters."

Murray broke Tsonga in the final game of each set en route to the victory, recovering an early break in both the second and third sets as he battled past the Frenchman, who had beaten him on his way to the title in Toronto in August in their last encounter.

"It was extremely tough conditions, very humid and obviously windy," Murray said. "It started to cool down at the end but the first two sets were very long tough sets."

Murray felt a turning point was when he saved three break points in the third game of the third set to avoid falling into an 0-3 hole.

He broke Tsonga in the next game to get the set back on serve and in the final game gave himself a triple break point with a precise backhand winner.

Tsonga saved one with an overhead, but misfired on the next to end it.

Murray avenged a loss to Tsonga in the Toronto Masters in August, and was pleased to get through the match in straight sets after a season in which he's sometimes felt all he's lacking is the ability to close out matches consistently.

"It wasn't like every time I stepped on the court I couldn't close out a match," he said. "It was just happening from time to time -- and a few times too often this year - so it was nice to win another one with no stress."

- 'Why we play the game' -

His eighth seeding puts him in Djokovic's path earlier than it would have last year -- when Murray fell to the Serb in the Australian Open final but beat him at Wimbledon to become the first British man in 77 years to capture the title at the All England Club.

Even though it's not a final, Murray was looking forward to taking on Djokovic, who has won 12 of their 20 career encounters.

"I think that's really why we play the game," Murray said. "That's what you put the work in for, so that when you come to these events and you do have to play against the best players that you're ready.

"As much as it's incredibly tough and challenging, the match, that's what you enjoy. Playing on Wednesday night against the number one player in the world is exciting."

Source: AFP