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Sunday, June 21, 2015

Murray outclasses Anderson to take fourth Queen's title


Aegon Championship, Queens Club, Andy Murray
Aegon Championships - Queens Club, London - 21/6/15Great Britain's Andy Murray celebrates winning the final with the trophyAction Images via Reuters / Paul Childs
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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