Sony Ericsson Open: Singles Championship

Andy Murray bested Novak Djokovic 6-2 7-5 in the Championship match. The match lasted 102 minutes. It was an overall solid performance for Murray.

In the opening set, Murray dominated, and Djokovic mishit a lot of balls. Murray struck first with a break in first game after a Djokovic mishit. The set went downhill quickly from there.

It looked like the beginning of a tragedy after Murray broke Djokovic in the first game of the second set. The trainer game out after game one, and it looked like the audience would be treated to another Djokovic retirement.

Djokovic instead came out from the timeout and broke Murray back. Unforced errors creeped into Murray’s game, and Djokovic started attacking Murray’s second serve. Djokovic then rattled off four games in a row. Murray hung around and stepped up his groundstokes and serve. Murray woke up in time to break back in game nine, which set up the hold for the tie at 5-5. He then cruised to victory from there.

The victory is Murray’s 11th career ATP title and third ATP Masters title and puts him only 170 points behind Djokovic. Over the next two months, Murray has only 520 points to defend while Djokovic has 2800 points to defend. The next two months occur during the clay season, Murray’s weakest surface. He still should be able to overtake Djokovic sooner rather than later.

As for Djokovic, it is never good when a player follows up a solid performance with a dud. Djokovic did save face in the second set. I know he is human, but he also wants to be world number one. His team is going to have to do something about his aversion to the heat if he wants to stay competitive with the big boys. Conversely, his win over Federer will keep Federer honest and not let the other players take him for granted. Djokovic is doing better than before, but he still has a ways to go to return to his original form.

(Image: Wilfredo Lee/AP)