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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

French Open 2012: Murray Versus Ferrer - Preview


Andy Murray takes on the challenge of David Ferrer in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, the 6th June. It is the tenth time they are meeting each other with Murray coming up trumps on five occasions. However, Ferrer has won all the three clay court meetings.

Ferrer’s game style might sometimes look a bit robotic, shorn of innovation but built for perfection from the baseline. Over the last two years or so, he has added power to his ground strokes and serve. He never tires and will retrieve everything that Murray throws at him. However, the quality of such retrievals will be different depending whether these are from the baseline or from elsewhere. He is almost impregnable at the baseline, but not so much between the baseline and the net. His movement from side to side is exemplary, but back and forth movement is not as secure. Murray varies spin, depth and power of his shots to create openings. He has good anticipation to judge when Ferrer will play a stock shot and where he should be to take that shot. It is with such cat and mouse approach that Murray would strive to create openings. Ferrer does not have ultra destructive shots and Murray is a master of low pace game. Ferrer does not have a monster serve and Murray is among the best returners. However, when the surface is clay, Ferrer’s mechanical game can win over a mental game. He may hit less number of winners than Murray, but also commit less unforced errors. In his anxiety to put the ball beyond Ferrer, Murray will go closer and closer to the lines and then beyond. First serve is one area where Murray is superior to Ferrer. Although Murray did not serve the requisite number of aces in the four sets against Richard Gasquet, but also did not allow his first serve percentage to fall below sixty. There always lurks a grave danger that his first serves come down to fifty percent leaving sub-par second serves to be exploited by aggressive returners. Ferrer is not an aggressive returner though. His motto is to return the serve well enough to start a rally and then never to let the rally end. He has not lost a set so far, meaning thereby that he can still run miles. However, time to concede set has come, but how many, cannot be predicted.

On the basis of performance so far in the tournament, Murray defeating Ferrer would be called an upset, though Murray is the higher ranked player.

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