ANDY MURRAY BEATS BERNIE TOMIC AT THE 2016 AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS, HE REACHES HIS 7TH STRAIGHT QUARTERFINALS

Written by: Staff on 25th January 2016

ANDY MURRAY BEATS BERNIE TOMIC AT THE 2016 AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS, HE REACHES HIS 7TH STRAIGHT QUARTERFINALS

epa05124310 Andy Murray of the United Kingdom plays a shot to Bernard Tomic of Australia during their fourth round match of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 25 January 2016. EPA/JULIAN SMITH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Andy Murray extended his winning streak against Australians to 17-0 on Monday night when he defeated No. 16 seed Bernard Tomic at the Australian Open.

Second seed and four-time finalist Murray defeated the home hope 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(4) in two hours and 30 minutes for a place in his seventh straight quarter-final at Melbourne Park.

“It was a tricky match,” said Murray. “I got up a break, I think, in all of the sets. Each time he obviously got it back. So there were quite a few momentum shifts in all of the sets. I think the third set he definitely played better. He started taking a lot more chances, especially at the end of the set. The 5-5 game that we played there, it was a very long game. He was serving and going big off the first ball. It wasn’t easy for me to get into a rhythm. Luckily he missed a few easy forehands in the tie-break, and that helped me out… [It] helped me get it done in straight sets.”

He has a 15-6 lead against eighth seed David Ferrer in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Murray beat Ferrer in the 2011 semi-finals.

Murray hit 43 winners, including 18 aces past Tomic, who committed 56 unforced errors. He won just 33 per cent of his second service points in their fourth meeting (Murray leads 4-0).

Bernard Tomic of Australia returns the ball against Andy Murray of Great Britain during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 25 January 2016. EPA/LYNN BO BO

There were five breaks of serve in the first set – three for Murray, two for Tomic. Murray could not convert one set point opportunity in a 14-point game at 5-3, which saw Tomic seal his fourth break point. Neither player could hold serve through the first three games of the second set, which Murray won in 45 minutes. Tomic played nerve-free tennis in the 58-minute third set, but Murray was able to win the points that mattered.

“It was very close the whole match,” said Tomic. “I just felt like I was very uncomfortable from the start. He broke me [in the] first game. It was just uncomfortable [at]the end… I felt like I just didn’t get that momentum of holding serve. I just felt like I didn’t serve as good as I’d like to. But he does return a lot better than any player I faced here in the Australian Open.”

The victory means that Murray maintains his record of not losing to an opponent ranked as low at No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at a Grand Slam, since he was beaten by No. 27-ranked Stan Wawrinka at the 2010 US Open.

With WTA player Johanna Konta’s victory at the Australian Open earlier on Monday, it marks the first time that Great Britain has had a male and female representative in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam championships since the 1977 Australian Open. That year, Sue Barker, Robin Drysdale and John Lloyd reached the last eight.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/murray-tomic-australian-open-2016-monday2 )

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, AusOpen 2016, Australian Open Tennis, Bernard Tomic, Melbourne, Tennis News