By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Andy Murray defeated Kevin Anderson to earn his 500th career victory and advance to the Miami Open quarterfinals for the sixth time.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy (@tennis_shots)
It wasn't a piece of cake, though it ended with one.
Andy Murray makes his off-season home in Miami and today he reached a milestone here.
Murray satisfied his craving for history—and cake—defeating Kevin Anderson, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to score his 500th career victory and advance to the Miami Open quarterfinals for the sixth time.
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The 27-year-old Murray is the ninth active man to attain 500 career victories. He is the first British man and 46th player in the Open era to attain the 500 mark.
"Obviously there has not been loads of players that have done it," Murray said in his post-match press conference. "So it's nice I think obviously for me the fact that it happened here, as well. It's just fitting just because I have spent so much time training here and working to get better and to improve. That was nice. I hope I've still got a lot more wins in me. To get to 500 is good. It's not an easy thing to do at my age. It's nice. Hopefully, I can keep going."
Murray celebrated biting into massive rectangular cake the ATP and tournament presented to him on court.
"It's nice because when you see the list of the players that have won that many matches, you know, there isn't loads," Murray said. "I think there are only 40 or so players that have done it. Hopefully I can win some more throughout my career. I obviously want to try and win more, and hopefully still have quite a few years ahead of me left to add to that number. It's a lot of wins. It's not easy these days to win that many matches, so that's a good sign."
Murray joins Roger Federer (1,012), Rafael Nadal (721), Novak Djokovic (625), David Ferrer (623), who played Gilles Simon the the Grandstand while Murray worked on the stadium court, Lleyton Hewitt (612), Tommy Haas (561), Tomas Berdych (506) and Tommy Robredo (505) in the exclusive 500 club.
The Murray first serve was the key stroke in the opening set. He served 68 percent and won 19 of 22 points played on his first serve. Murray converted the only break to build a one-set lead.
The six-foot-eight Anderson turned the match around in the second. Murray's first-serve percentage dropped to 40 percent and Anderson amped up his return aggression. The three-time former all-American at Illinois powered out to a 4-0 double-break lead before Murray got back into gear.
Racing forward to intercept a drop volley, he spun a forehand up the line to break, igniting a run that saw him win 10 of 11 points in drawing to 2-4, 0-30 on the South African's serve.
Anderson answered with successive aces to stop the slide, eventually holding at 30 for 5-2.
The 15th-seeded Anderson, who lives in Florida, belted a sharp inside-out forehand winner and followed with a stinging serve to close the second set and level the match.
At the start of the decider, Anderson saved two break points. But on the third Murray rifled a return right back at the big man's feet coaxing the error and completing the break for 2-0 in the decider.
Blasting a 98 mph return winner for break point, Anderson broke back when Murray slapped a forehand into net and spiked his Head racquet in frustration.
Getting right back to work, Murray scored the third straight break for a 3-1 advantage with a hearty and extended "come on!" as Anderson sailed another forehand beyond the baseline. He refused to relinquish the lead. Like Murray, Anderson's two-handed backhand is his most reliable ground stroke; the Scot had success stretching Anderson on his forehand side.
Serving for a spot in history, Murray closed the two hour, five-minute match at love. Pulling his blue baseball cap off his sweaty hand, Murray exhaled deeply then returned to the court to applaud the crowd for their support.
Next up for Murray is a quarterfinal match with Dominic Thiem, who toppled 28th-seeded Adrian Mannarino, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5. In their lone prior meeting, Murray topped the then 113th-ranked Thiem, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in Rotterdam last year.
The pair are frequent practice partners and Murray expects another battle.
"He had his best year on the tour last year. He's a very talented guy," Murray said of Thiem. "He's strong. I know him fairly well. I practice with him quite a bit. He's very hard worker. Very good attitude. Very respectful guy. He's got a very good career ahead of him. So I expect tomorrow will be a tough match. He struggled a little bit the beginning part of the year. He changed racquets, always takes a few months to get used to that. Obviously this week he's played very well again."