ANDY MURRAY BECOMES KING OF QUEEN’S AS HE BEATS MILOS RAONIC IN FINALS & FLORIAN MAYER TRIUMPHS OVER ALEXANDER ZVEREV IN HALLE BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 19th June 2016

ANDY MURRAY BECOMES KING OF QUEEN'S AS HE BEATS MILOS RAONIC IN FINALS & FLORIAN MAYER TRIUMPHS OVER ALEXANDER ZVEREV IN HALLE BY RICKY DIMON

epa05377568 Britain's Andy Murray celebrates with the trophy after winning against Canada's Milos Raonic in the final match of the Aegon Tennis Championships at the Queen's Club in London, Britain, 19 June 2016. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

Andy Murray recovered from the brink of defeat to become the first man to win five titles at the AEGON Championships on Sunday afternoon. Murray trailed Milos Raonic by a set and 3-0 in the second but stormed back to prevail 6-7(5), 6-3 after two hours and 13 minutes.

The final appeared to be completely over–in Raonic’s favor–when the Canadian broke for a 2-0 lead in the second set. After all, he had held 55 of 55 service games this week at Queen’s Club after extending his advantage to 3-0.

But that’s when it all came crashing down for the world No. 9. Murray broke back for 2-3 and was off to the races, breaking again for 4-3 before closing out the middle frame of play with a service hold at 5-4. Two additional breaks in the decider were more than enough for the top-seeded Scot to complete his comeback.

“It was great,” Murray assured. “Obviously coming out here to win for a fifth time, I was really motivated.”

Winning titles is not something that has been commonplace for either finalist at the Gerry Weber Open. At just 19 years old, Alexander Zverev has understandably not yet lifted a winner’s trophy. Thirteen years Zverev’s senior, Florian Mayer had triumphed just once in his entire career prior to this week.

German tennis players Alexander Zverev (l-r) and winner Florian Mayer present their trophies at the award ceremony after the final at the ATP tournament in Halle, Germany, 19 June 2016. EPA/FRISO GENTSCH

Ranked 192nd in the world because of injuries, Mayer had to use a protected ranking just to get into the Halle field. The rest is history, as the 32-year-old completed his improbable run to the title by holding off Zverev 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in one hour and 55 minutes.

“I would say it’s the biggest win in my career, to win a 500 event here in Germany on grass,” Mayer commented. “If you see the list of champions in the past here and now my name is on the list, I cannot believe it.

“I had a hard time with so many injuries and not playing tournaments. So it’s a special moment now for me to come back and win a 500 tournament. It helps a lot to be back in the top 100, also. With one tournament, everything changes now.”