Andy Murray made to sweat by Feliciano López

Andy Murray

As America settled down for the Labour Day weekend, Andy Murray went into a session of hard labour.

He came out the other side, just about, with a four-set victory over Feliciano López and a place in the fourth round of the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

There was not much to separate the pair in a match that went to three tiebreaks but the turning point came in the 11th game of the fourth set. It was 5-5 and advantage López on the Murray serve under a brutal sun on Louis Armstrong Court that was a lot more favourable to the man who was born in Toledo, Spain than Dunlane, Scotland.

Murray admitted to having difficulty acclimatising to the heat and humidity because, since winning the gold medal at the Olympics, he did not have time to go to his Florida training camp. Instead, appearances in Canada and Cincinnati were his only preparation.

Even what had gone before might not have prepared Murray for the 23-stroke rally that had all the intensity of a prizefight. When López lost the point he looked like a man who wondered whether he would ever beat Murray – having lost their previous six meetings while Murray might have wondered whether this would be one of the moments he might look back upon as pivotal to that first Grand Slam title.

First the No. 3 seed had the small task of winning the fourth set, which he did for a 7-6(7-5), 7-6(7-5), 4-6, 7-6(7-4) victory against the 30th seed who was a mixture of a tenacious terrier and a candle that just refused to be blown out.

Although using different styles the two largely cancelled one another out in the first two sets and both went unbroken in the first, getting the first mini-break at 5-5 and then winning the following two points to take the set.

The second set had both players delivering pinpoint drop shots, lobs and beautiful crosscourt winners. Murray broke López and held on his first service game, taking a 2-0 lead, which might have been the cue for the Spaniard to wilt.

But, as if taking on the mantel of the absent Rafael Nadal, López took up the challenge and broke back at 3-3. Murray still took the set on another tie-break and López again found himself 2-0 hole but now he began to waver as he made 10 unforced errors while López chased every cause lost or otherwise to win six out of eight games and threaten an upset.

By now there was an element of last man standing and López somehow managed to play some of his best tennis of the match, and remained on serve throughout the fourth set, sending the set to yet another tie-break.

Murray again gained the edge  and was able to get through the near four-hour marathon for a fourth-round tie against Canadian Milos Raonic. "I was struggling a bit physically and that made it challenging," Murray said. "I was up two sets and a break and should have done better there, but I played well in the tie-breaks and that was the difference.

"He played some really good stuff and served well when he was down. He was able to dictate a lot, win free points and play well at the net.

"It's the last major event of the year and you want to push through anything physically. I will be out here in the next match giving one hundred per cent."

They say hard work never killed anyone. A look at Murray as he dragged himself off the court almost made one wonder.

Paul Wheeler

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