The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsAndy Murray has won the Aegon Championships as he produced a near-flawless display to defeat Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-4.
The Brit was in devastating form as he only needed one break of serve in each set to dismiss the South African and conclude his Wimbledon preparations in the best way possible.
In the opening set, Murray was largely untroubled on his service games, hitting his groundstrokes with confidence and great depth to pressurise Anderson. The South African’s usually dominant serve became neutralised by Murray’s incredible returning, and at 2-1, the Brit planted a cross court backhand cross court winner to set up his first break point.
Anderson responded with another huge serve, but Murray’s retrieval was rewarded as his opponent netted a forehand to give the former Wimbledon champion the break. Murray remained untouchable on serve to quickly consolidate the advantage, and eventually sealed the first set 6-3 when a wicked slice forced a forehand wide from Anderson.
The Brit continued his outstanding form in the second set, holding his serve with ease to remain level with Anderson. The South African found himself in trouble at 2-2, and an exquisite dropshot polished off an unbelievable rally in which Murray demonstrated his variety to outclass his opponent once again, and take complete control with another break. Anderson had no answers, and even when he appeared to have finally made some ground on the Murray serve to narrow the advantage to 40-30 at 3-2, a sensational rally ended with a brilliant angled forehand winner by the Brit to increase his lead.
The South African was powerless as his opponent was simply inspired and producing a masterful performance to torment his opponent. Anderson did his best to reduce the deficit, but he hardly made an impression on his opponent’s serve at all, as an unreturnable serve by Murray wrapped up a convincing win and his fourth Queens Club title.
So, Murray will head into the Wimbledon Championships brimming with confidence, especially after his destructive display in the Queen’s Club final to underline his status as a certain favourite for the third grand slam of the year. As for Anderson, he produced an encouraging display throughout the tournament, and will be encouraged by his solid progress even though he found Murray too good in the final.
In the other grass court tournament in Halle, Roger Federer similarly made a statement of his intentions to capture another Wimbledon trophy as the Swiss player defeated Andreas Seppi 7-6 6-4 in the final of the Gerry Weber Open.
