SirBloody Idiot
Cricketer Of The Year
Oxenstierna, Murdoch meet in Monte-Carlo finale
World No. 4 Sven Oxenstierna will meet World No. 12 Dwayne Murdoch in a fitting best-of-five set conclusion to the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tomorrow afternoon Monaco time. In their third meeting (the previous two both on clay), both will be looking for a big win to commence their preparation for the French Open. Interestingly, it was at Roland Garros where they first met - last season Oxenstierna ended Murdoch's great run in the semi finals over four sets. Now Murdoch returns for just his second clay final (after losing to Hall in Hamburg), and despite knocking off the previously undefeated clay maestro Daniel Páez Blanco is not the favourite with the bookies.
Oxenstierna has been immense this week and has yet to drop a set. The French Open finalist tamed arguably the third best player in the draw 6-3, 7-5 in his semi final and will be understandably confident having claimed the title in Indian Wells. Murdoch meanwhile also sees the importance of tomorrow's final - he had a poor run with injury during the clay Masters series last year and suffered a string of early exits before finally showing his capabilities at Roland Garros. For instance, a win in tomorrow's final will see him leap to World No. 7 and he only has a combined 80 points to defend in Rome and Madrid.
As for the tennis, as the court has dried out this week at his suited Murdoch more and more. Oxenstierna's results haven't been quite as impressive as they were on the damper courts, but that can be put down to an increase in competition. Despite what the bookies say, Murdoch has looked irresistable to me and Oxenstierna has struggled with super-aggressive players who hit the ball deep. I'm expecting Murdoch to extract a bit of revenge for Roland Garros over five sets.
World No. 4 Sven Oxenstierna will meet World No. 12 Dwayne Murdoch in a fitting best-of-five set conclusion to the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tomorrow afternoon Monaco time. In their third meeting (the previous two both on clay), both will be looking for a big win to commence their preparation for the French Open. Interestingly, it was at Roland Garros where they first met - last season Oxenstierna ended Murdoch's great run in the semi finals over four sets. Now Murdoch returns for just his second clay final (after losing to Hall in Hamburg), and despite knocking off the previously undefeated clay maestro Daniel Páez Blanco is not the favourite with the bookies.
Oxenstierna has been immense this week and has yet to drop a set. The French Open finalist tamed arguably the third best player in the draw 6-3, 7-5 in his semi final and will be understandably confident having claimed the title in Indian Wells. Murdoch meanwhile also sees the importance of tomorrow's final - he had a poor run with injury during the clay Masters series last year and suffered a string of early exits before finally showing his capabilities at Roland Garros. For instance, a win in tomorrow's final will see him leap to World No. 7 and he only has a combined 80 points to defend in Rome and Madrid.
As for the tennis, as the court has dried out this week at his suited Murdoch more and more. Oxenstierna's results haven't been quite as impressive as they were on the damper courts, but that can be put down to an increase in competition. Despite what the bookies say, Murdoch has looked irresistable to me and Oxenstierna has struggled with super-aggressive players who hit the ball deep. I'm expecting Murdoch to extract a bit of revenge for Roland Garros over five sets.
Murdoch has had a largely **** year so far, but he seems to pull these types of weeks out of his arse regularly.
