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US Open


PREVIEW


5 GREAT MATCHES US OPEN


Murray finally wins one OK, so we’re starting off a little biased, we know, but wasn’t it great? Everybody knew that Andy Murray was good, well better than good, but the people he was regularly up against meant that winning a Grand Slam took far longer than he had hoped for. There was always the constant “he will win a Slam at some point” or at least “he’s got the game to do it” type talk, but four Grand Slam finals beforehand had suggested that he might fall just short.


Maybe that Olympic final was the


difference. Having lost to Roger Federer in the final of Wimbledon, breaking down into tears in his interview afterwards and his feeling of letting people down, it was a monumental comeback at London 2012, just a matter of weeks later. Same Centre Court, same opponent, but this time Murray was exceptional, blasting Federer off the court in straight sets to claim an Olympic gold medal. On to Flushing Meadows and with greater self- belief than ever, Murray met Novak Djokovic. What followed was nearly five hours of the most skilful, brutal tennis you’ll see, but more importantly for us Brits, a 7-6 (12-10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 win for the Scot, his first Grand Slam title, and hopefully, not his last.


Sampras vs Agassi Pete Sampras was on the slide into retirement, well there were a few saying as much. The American has lost to Marat Safin in the 2000 final, and his ludicrous winning streak at Wimbledon had been ended by one Roger Federer. A matter of months later, Sampras faced a revitalised Andre Agassi, who had won the Australian Open earlier in the year and was after the number one ranking. In their previous three meetings, Agassi had won all three. Everyone had a favourite out of the two


(Agassi, for this writer) and it was a classic match-up between serve-and-volley versus the baseliner. Both stuck to their own style, and eventually in this match, one would triumph over the other. A match of the very finest margins, Sampras won in four sets, with every set being decided on a tie-break: 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5). At the start of the fourth set, the two


veterans received a lengthy standing ovation that reflected the effort and emotion that bother players were putting in. Sampras would go onto the final, but end up losing a second successive US Open, with Lleyton Hewitt winning his only title at Flushing Meadows. A year on, Sampras and Agassi met again, in the final, with Sampras again ending as victor.


of the fourth set, the two veterans received a lengthy standing ovation that reflected the effort and emotion that bother players were putting in


www.activinstinct.com 17 At the start


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