ANDY MURRAY OUTLASTS NISHIKORI IN LONGEST MATCH SINCE WORLD TOUR FINALS MOVED TO 02 ARENA IN LONDON

Written by: Staff on 16th November 2016

ANDY MURRAY OUTLASTS NISHIKORI IN LONGEST MATCH SINCE WORLD TOUR FINALS MOVED TO 02 ARENA IN LONDON

epa05633944 Britain's Andy Murray returns the ball to Japan's Kei Nishikori during their men's singles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 16 November 2016. EPA/WILL OLIVER |

By Ricky Dimon

Back and forth they go.

Matching Novak Djokovic win for win in an intense battle for the year-end No. 1 ranking, Andy Murray survived the longest contest ever played at the O2 Arena on Wednesday afternoon. Murray recovered from a set deficit and needed three hours and 20 minutes to beat Kei Nishikori 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4 during Group B round-robin action at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

No match since the World Tour Finals moved to London in 2009 had required as much time. Murray vs. Nishikori was also the longest best-of-three match on a hard court of this entire season.

“(I’m) a bit tired, obviously,” Murray assured. “But you tend to feel it more the following day…in terms stiffness and soreness in the body. I was in the ice bath after the match…. I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be a bit sore.”

In a grueling first set that lasted one hour and 25 minutes, four minutes shorter than the entire three-set match between Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils on Tuesday, both players navigated through difficult service games to force a tiebreaker. Murray saved a break point at 30-40 to hold for 6-5 before Nishikori fought off a set point at 30-40 in the next game and held following a pair of deuces.

The ensuing ‘breaker was even more tense, with Murray putting his home crowd through a roller-coaster of emotions. He bounced back from an immediate mini-break only to lose serve twice in succession at 3-4 and 3-5. Seemingly down and out with Nishikori up triple set point and serving, Murray reeled off three points in a row. The world No. 2 won the 5-6 point in miracle fashion, answering what should have been a put-away backhand by Nishikori with a winning backhand of his own.

Nishikori finally got through the tiebreaker 11 points to nine after squandering a total of four set points while saving set points at 6-7 and 9-8.

The conclusion of set two delivered similar drama, albeit before another ‘breaker became necessary. Murray returned a break at 4-3 but broke right back in the ninth game, even though Nishikori had two game points on his serve with a chance to hold for 5-4 and put himself within one game of victory. Instead, it was Murray who enjoyed a 5-4 lead on his own serve and after thwarting two break chances for Nishikori he finally capitalized on his third set point.

Japan’s Kei Nishikori returns the ball to Britain’s Andy Murray during their men’s singles match at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 16 November 2016. EPA/WILL OLIVER

Nishikori appeared to be on his last legs early in the third set, as he dropped serve at both 1-1 and 1-3–each time after going to deuce. Murray, meanwhile, held in lightning-quick fashion to extend his advantage to 5-1, so there was no reason to think he would crack while trying to finish off Nishikori at 5-2. But the Japanese star suddenly found another gear and used a barrage of huge groundstrokes–and a double-fault by his opponent–to get one of the breaks back.

On his second chance to serve out the match, though, Murray made no mistake and sealed the deal with love hold at 5-4.

“(I) think it was great match (by) both of us,” Nishikori commented. “For me, (I) played really consistent; playing with good energy.”

“There was nothing really in it,” Murray said when asked what decided the outcome. “I think (in) the third set, obviously I got off to a quick start. I think the 2-1 game in the third set was very important. I had just broken him. It was a long game, that next one. When I won that, I think his head dropped for five minutes. I was up 5-1–just had a big enough lead to finish it off at 5-4.

“But he came back well; fought right to the end. He could have won in two sets, for sure. He was dictating many points. He had a number of chances.”