Atp Cincinnati Masters – Murray Takes Trophy Home

The Cincinnati Masters which is part of the nine Masters Series tournaments in the ATP tour was just recently held in Mason, Ohio and to this day it is the oldest tennis event played in the United States. For the surprise of many, the last two men standing were the Serbian Novak Djokovic and the Scot Andy Murray who has positioned himself in the number 6 spot in the rankings after grasping the title in a thriller match.

On his way to achieve his fourth title the Serbian Djokovic was able to beat the unstoppable Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who will soon become the new number one tennis player in the world, after a 32-match winning streak during their semi final game. The world number three Djokovic continues his pursuit for a better spot but the point gap between Nadal and him is now bigger, the difference stands at 1,065 points after the double win the Spaniard was able to pull by grasping two Grand Slams consecutively.

Nevertheless the US$2,750,000 Cincinnati tournament was a delight display of tennis for the fans as these two sensational players reached the final game. Both of them knew that winning this tournament will unfold the road for the final grand slam scenery in the Big Apple within a couple of weeks. Murray whose game has been in ascension after a long-time wrist injury he was unable to recover from until recently showed his best qualities and skills in the sport. He smartly enough knew how to move the pieces and with amazing back hand strokes stunned his rival in two sets.

The final score of the match was 7-6, 7-6 and it latest approximately two hours and 22 minutes. It was a game full of rallies, tie-breaks, and volleys as both players challenged each other constantly. It was amazing to see how much Murray’s game has improved in the last months and how clean his moves appear on the hard surfaces. On the other hand, Djokovic did not step back and his ground strokes continued to surprise us all even Murray who by the very end seemed tired but held on until the last second.

Murray did mention that “I played in these conditions all week so maybe I was more used to it."There were lots of long, long rallies which took a toll and we were both tired at the end.” Regardless of the long runs this did not make a difference for the Scot who risked his games with heavy constant attacks that drained all of his opponent’s energy.

Now, the Scot moves into the sixth position of the world rankings closely followed by the Argentinean Nalbandian and the American James Blake who are approximately 200 points behind him. The next weeks will be quite in the ATP circuit as the Olympics approach but the action will continue in New York City where history will be written for the top players and those who believe can take on better positions in the 2008 ATP race.