AFTER a couple of cosy wins in the early rounds, Wimbledon winner and defending Olympic champion Andy Murray is giving his fans a rollercoaster ride in Rio.
An extraordinary match against Fabio Fognini in the third round saw Murray beat the Italian in three sets to make the quarter-final against Steve Johnson of the USA, and yesterday that match also turned into a scare session for Murray.
It ended well for the man from Dunblane, who served out to win another thriller 6-0, 4-6, 6-6 (7-2) and thus set a personal record of 16 straight wins.
He will play for a medal chance in a semi-final that could be against Gael Monfils or Kei Nishikori, both of whom he has already beaten this year.
The win means Murray is assured of at least a place in the bronze medal play-off, but for the second day in succession he gave his fans a huge fright on centre court at the Tennis Centre.
As he had done against Fognini, Murray blasted out of the blocks and played completely dominating tennis returning Johnson’s big serves to unnerve the American.
Johnson challenged one Murray serve and HawkEye showed that it was just in. The crowd watched in astonishment as Johnson continued to challenge the decision.
It was inexperience on the part of the American, so much so that he surrendered three breaks of serve as Murray took the first set 6-0.
Then just as he had done against Fognini, Murray lost the plot in the second set as his unforced error count grew.
Johnson, who had never made it past the fourth round in a major, reacted well and forced a break of serve at the start of the second set.
The American began to find his range with a powerful forehand and while strong on his own serve Murray could find no way through on the Californian’s whose early break was enough to wrap up the second set
Into the third set, and it went with serve until Johnson broke the Murray serve to lead 4-3. Staring at defeat, Murray dug deep once again and immediately broke back, and then survived a break point at 4-4 to move ahead, only to clutch at his hamstring as if injured.
Both players held their serves and the tie-break ensued. It was going to be down to mistakes, and after a fantastic first point saw Murray grind it, before Johnson made the first serious error and netted a forehand.
Johnson twice served to stay in the match, before ultimately coming up short in the tie-break which has been introduced as a rule change for this Olympics.
Rafael Nadal made to work hard for his 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 quarter-final victory against Brazil’s unseeded Thomaz Bellucci.
A tired Nadal had little resistance to offer in the first set, with Bellucci winning 6-2. Nadal found his focus and established a lead in the second. Bellucci battled back but the Spaniard took that set 6-4.
In the third, Nadal quickly zoomed past his opponent for a 4-1 lead. Once again, Bellucci was able to regain some ground, but Nadal proved too strong. Nadal will face Roberto Bautista Agut or Juan del Potro in the semi-finals today.
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