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Aegon Championships - Queens Club, London - 21/6/15Great
Britain's Andy Murray celebrates winning the final with the trophyAction Images
via Reuters / Paul Childs
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Andy Murray warmed up for Wimbledon by winning back-to-back matches at
the Aegon Championships on Sunday as he scooped his fourth title at Queen's
Club by dismantling big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-4 in the
final.
To the delight of the home crowd, the world number three showed no sign
of weariness when returning to court two hours after completing his semi-final
against Viktor Troicki which had been held up by rain the previous evening.
He had resumed at 3-3 in the first set against the Serb and quickly
established control to come through 6-3 7-6(4).
Murray was confident his return of serve would enable him to cope
against the lanky Anderson, who went into the final having thundered down 96
aces in his three previous matches.
So it proved, even though Anderson fired down two more aces in his first
service game and soon reached three figures for the week.
The top seed's returning nevertheless enabled him to make a crucial
breakthrough once in each set and his own serve never let him down.
A range of dropshots and lobs also proved too subtle for Anderson, and
also suggested that Murray was in fine fettle ahead of Wimbledon which starts
on June 29.
The first break came in the fourth game, when Murray confidently
returned a 141 mile-per-hour serve, forcing his unseeded opponent to net a
volley.
Anderson was broken with a series of superb shots to fall 3-2 behind in
the second and was unable to recover.
Murray sealed victory when the South African went wide on a service
return, allowing the Briton to join John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt
and Andy Roddick from the modern era as four-times Queen's winners.
The Scot's titles have come in alternate years -- 2009, 2011, 2013 and
2015.
"Both matches today were good performances and I played a little
bit better as the week went on," Murray said in an on-court interview.
"It's been a great week for me and hopefully I can continue that
form through to Wimbledon."
Murray even believes he is in better form than two years ago, when he
won Wimbledon by beating Novak Djokovic in the final.
"I'm playing better than then, I feel," he added.
"But it's extremely difficult to win these events when everyone is
improving all the time.
"You are playing against some of the greatest players that have
ever played so you need to keep working hard and I still feel there are things
I can improve on."
Anderson will also hope for a good run on the All England Club grass
after an impressive tournament.
"I played some good tennis throughout the week and I can take a
lot of positives from it," he said. - Reuters
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