Murray saves five match points to reach Doha final
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[February 25, 2023]
(Reuters) -Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray said
the 'Law of Averages' had finally swung in his favour after he saved
five match points to defeat Jiri Lehecka at the Qatar Open on Friday
and reach a first ATP Tour final since June last year.
Wild card Murray beat his Czech opponent 6-0 3-6 7-6(6), fighting
back from 5-3 down in the decider. He will face third seed Daniil
Medvedev in the final after the Russian beat Canada's second-seeded
Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 7-6(7).
The 35-year-old Briton has shown great resilience during his run to
the showpiece match in Doha and his latest victory was his fourth
three-set win in four games, which included comeback wins over
Lorenzo Sonego and Alexandre Muller.
Asked how he managed to close out the narrow victories, Murray
pointed to learning from defeats last season, telling reporters:
"One of the great things about the scoring system in this sport is
things can change very quickly.
"I had multiple conversations with my team in the middle to the end
part of last year, and I lost lots of close matches.
"I said, 'As soon as I start winning some, then that's going to
change quickly because of the law of averages, really, like I
couldn't keep losing that many matches'.
"If I kept working hard and kept improving just a little bit, then
those matches would change. So I'm glad that I was right with that,
and I hope it continues."
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Tennis - ATP 250 - Qatar Open - Khalifa
International Tennis and Squash Complex, Doha, Qatar - February 24,
2023 Britain's Andy Murray celebrates winning his semi final match
against Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari
The former world number one added that navigating a
way out of so many tricky situations in a short timespan had
bolstered his self-belief.
"There is a certain calmness to those situations, because you have
been in them a lot in a short period of time. You know how you need
to try and play and it becomes a little bit of a habit," Murray
said.
"Maybe it's a little bit in the back of the opponent's mind, as
well. There have been periods where someone like Novak (Djokovic)
has come back from very difficult situations, and it has appeared
that players think about it a little when they are getting close to
the finish line.
"That's something that I'm feeling a bit just now, and obviously I
will try to keep that going."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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