Andy Murray played his best grass court tennis of the season to defeat Marin Cilic and edge closer to a record fifth Aegon Championship title.
Having had barely five hours of practise on the grass before opening his tournament against Nicolas Mahut, the world No.2 has, somewhat understandably, been slightly below par on the Queen’s Centre Court this week – but only by his own extremely high standards.
But that all changed come the third set of his semi-final clash with the 2012 champion Cilic.
Having taken the first 6-3, Murray cracked in the second, losing his serve at 3-3 and then failing to convert three successive break points.
Cilic went on to take the second set 6-4 but, just as he did in his quarter-final with Kyle Edmund, Murray significantly raised his level in the decider.
A series of thumping, cross-court forehands, coupled with a 77% first serve success rate, saw Murray race through the third set, taking it 6-3 despite some admirable defence from Cilic in an eight-minute game at 5-3.
Murray finished the match with a 72% first serve success rate – a figure which would have impressed the on-looking Goran Ivanisevic - and while it is easy to overstate Ivan Lendl’s impact in his first tournament back with Murray, there were some clear parallels to their first partnership.
Big, consistent serving and aggressive forehands were hallmarks of Murray’s two major grass court titles (Olympic Gold in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013), and they were both evident on Saturday, with Murray rattling down 14 aces.
He will need to maintain that level of serving in Sunday’s showpiece, though, as his opponent, Milos Raonic, moves into the final having not lost his serve once this week.
“I served well obviously in the third. You know, I need to look at that. You're not going to repeat that every single time but try to understand why exactly it was so good in the third set,” said Murray.
“But the third sets today and in the match with Kyle were very high level from my side of the court.
"hat's very pleasing because I know my best tennis is in there.”
Murray is aiming to become the first man to win five titles at the Queen’s Club, and admitted that setting that particular record would be a special moment.
Will @andy_murray make history today by becoming the first five-time winner of the #AegonChampionships?https://t.co/GL69QZ3fqJ
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) June 19, 2016
“Yeah, it would mean a lot. A lot ofgreat players have played here over the years, and winning any tournament, you know, a few times is hard obviously. But, you know, this one in particular has always got a very strong field,” he said.
Murray and Raonic last met back in January in an Australian Open semi-final, with Murray – somewhat fortunately – coming through in five sets after the Canadian suffered an injury.
And while Murray is historically the better grass court player – this is Raonic’s first ATP Tour final on the green stuff – the world No.9’s fledgling partnership with John McEnroe is clearly paying dividends already.
The American – a three time Wimbledon champion – has encouraged Raonic to move forward more often, looking to ally the Canadian’s booming serve with a comprehensive net game.
Raonic could well give Murray one of his hardest matches of the entire grass court season, and could hinge on the battle between Murray’s passes and Raonic’s forays to the net.
“Obviously it's about playing on my terms and keeping Andy off balance as much as possible and having him adjust to me more than I go about adjusting things to him, and having him not play too many long points where he can get in a rhythm, and feel like I can keep moving forward and sort of find my positioning there,” said the Canadian.
The final also has one of the most intriguing coaching sub-plots in recent times, with Lendl and McEnroe renewing their famous rivalry from the player’s boxes – but their respective charges were quick to play down any potential significance.
“To me I don't find it that interesting, to be honest, because I'm playing Milos tomorrow; I'm not playing John,” said Murray.
“You know, they can't serve for us at an important moment and they can't hit a return for us on break point.
“That comes down to the player.”
“Yeah, I think it's irrelevant to what I'm pretty sure his objective is,” concurred Raonic.
“And I know definitely it's irrelevant to what my objective is”.
I'm playing Milos tomorrow, not John
