Andy
Murray will play for his first title since 2019 after doing it again and saving
FIVE match points on his way to the
Qatar Open final in an astonishing finish
against
Jiri Lehecka.
The
young Czech served for the match and found himself 40-0 up, only for the
warrior that is Murray to find a way - as he has done so many times in his
career – to battle back and turn the final set on its head. Playing in his
102nd ATP semi-final, Murray had to play his 12th set of the week in order to
win 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(6) as another one of his matches went into sudden death.
Murray
it seems doesn’t do straight sets anymore after his two five-setters at the
Australian Open and battles with Lorenzo Sonego, Alexander Zverev and Alexandre
Muller all going the distance already this week.
Murray didn’t have to play at his best in the opening set to overcome
the 21-year-old Lehecka, who couldn’t find the rhythm that helped him take out
Rublev. The
Brit broke serve on three occasions in the opening set as his younger opponent
really struggled, winning only 37% of points on his first serve. Neither player
had broken sweat by the time Murray had carved out two set points and he
claimed his easiest set of the week when Lehecka could only find the net.
The
young Czech star took a toilet break before the second set - perhaps to give
himself a shake - and it seemed to work as he finally got on the scoreboard by
holding serve to love. There was now a very different feel to proceedings as
Lehecka started showcasing his power, hitting winner after winner to break the
Murray serve and lead 2-0.
Momentum
had changed significantly, and it was Murray who had to respond. But try as he
may, he couldn’t find a break, failing to take two chances given in game seven
as Lehecka went on to level up the match with just the solitary break.
The
pair shared service games at the start of the third and then swapped breaks of
serve as the quality of the match went up a notch. But Lehecka made the break
through, finding the line on the first of three break points after Murray had
left it thinking it was going long. The Czech had the break and his nose in
front and served for it at 5-4.
Lehecka initially made light work, racing to three match points after some solid groundstrokes and volleys at the net. But Murray has made a habit of snatching victory from from the jaws of defeat and somehow did it again by turning it around and breaking serve.
Eventually, the third set reached a tie-break, as both players held their last service game. The tiebreak was swinging from one to the other and Murray took the match on his second match point to win another amazing match.
In the final, Murray will play against Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime as the winner will get 250 points and $209,445 in
prize money.