Murray gains revenge over Federer

Andy Murray avenged his US Open final defeat by Roger Federer with a superb 3-6 6-3 7-5 victory over the Swiss in the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters.

Federer broke the British number one in the fourth game on his way to winning the opening set but the 21-year-old Scot responded well to level the match.

A tense final set went with serve until the 11th game when Murray broke Federer before completing a fantastic victory.

World number one Rafael Nadal will face Gilles Simon in the second semi-final.

Murray, who lost in straight sets to Federer at Flushing Meadows in September, had not dropped a set in his march to the last four.

And the Briton, looking for a second successive Masters Series title after victory in Cincinnati in August, admitted his serve had been crucial to his fightback.

"When Roger gets ahead he plays really aggressive, he plays with a lot of confidence and he really races through his service games," he said.

"I was lucky in the second set, I managed to go ahead early and relax a bit from there. I had to try and take my chances, which is tough against him because he plays so well on the big points.

"I served great, and that was the key. I didn't give him too many chances and that was the reason I won."

Federer said: "I thought Andy served very well and returned much more comfortably than at the US Open. He did well to hang in there and it was a close match."

Serve dominated the opening five games before the former world number one broke Murray when the Scot overhit a forehand to take a 4-2 lead.


Murray had a chance to hit back immediately when a mis-hit Federer forehand gave him a break point, but his opponent saved that before holding to establish a 5-2 advantage.
The Swiss soon wrapped up the set but Murray, chasing his fourth ATP title this year, served well to help him put Federer under pressure in the second.

The world number four broke serve in the fourth game, taking advantage of a rare Federer mistake on break point.

Murray drove home his advantage by comfortably holding serve to move 4-1 ahead.

The next three games went with serve, leaving Murray with the chance to serve for the set, which he duly did by winning three quick points before levelling the match with an unstoppable forehand.

Murray survived a scare on his serve in the eighth game of the final set and held his nerve again when 5-4 down.

Federer then found his serve under pressure and saved one break point before Murray swooped to take his chance second time around.

Murray then held his serve impressively to clinch his third win in five over Federer.

The Scot said he would relish a showdown with Nadal, whom he lost to in Madrid last year but beat for the first time at the US Open.

"I played him last year here and we had a really good match, great atmosphere again," said Murray.

"He's number one player in the world, he's had a great year and I look forward to playing either of them.

"It's a Masters Series final; this is all kind of new to me, I've only been in one final before so I'll just try and enjoy it."