British teen feasts on Fish to reach ATP semi-final
2006-08-05

Category Tennis Nations Slovakia France People Arnaud Clement Marat Safin Tim Henman Andy Murray Lleyton Hewitt Andy Roddick Andre Agassi

British teen Andy Murray reached the semi-finals of his first tournament under new coach Brad Gilbert by defeating American Mardy Fish 6-2, 6-4 here Friday at the ATP Washington Classic.

The 19-year-old Scottish eighth seed broke his 70th-ranked foe twice to win the first set in 31 minutes, then held off a determined Fish fightback to advance after roaring to a 5-1 second-set lead.

"It was probably the best six games I've played since I was on the tour," he said of his second-set start. "I really wasn't making any mistakes. I started playing harder.

"Apart from the last three games, it was a great match."

Murray, ranked a career-best 35th, will face the winner of a later match between Britain's Tim Henman and Russian seventh seed Dmitry Tursunov for a spot in Sunday's championship match at the 600,000-dollar US Open warmup event.

Fish broke Murray in the seventh game of the second set, saved a match point and held in the eighth game and battled in the final game, saving another match point on a forehand winner.

Murray, who won his only ATP title in February at Sasn Jose, escaped break-point chances with a backhand volley winner and a wide Fish forehand before Fish hit a forehand long to fall after 76 minutes.

The lackluster finish to a stunning start did not impress Gilbert, who guided Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to Grand Slam titles and top rankings.

"He was a little disappointed. He thought I got a little tentative out there at the end, which I did," Murray said. "He started to play aggressively and I started to play more defensively."

Both coach and pupil agree that except for some strategy advice, Gilbert has yet to make a major impact after only a week on the job.

"It does help, although at this point my game isn't that much better than where I started," Murray said.

"He was the one who said the changes wouldn't happen overnight. But when you have someone like him in your corner, it gives you more confidence. He gets me ready to play going into my matches."

That could help against Henman, always a hard man for Murray to face.

"It's difficult for me. He's the one I looked up to growing up," Murray said. "I play with my head down. I don't look up. I don't yell 'Come on.' I have a lot of respect for him... I'm sure it's difficult for him as well."

Henman, ranked 64th, had not lost to a British player in seven years before Murray beat him 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/4) at the Swiss Indoors last October.

France's Arnaud Clement also advanced to the semi-finals, beating third seed Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (7/1), 6-4. The 57th-ranked Frenchman had dropped all seven prior matches with the former world number one from Australia.

"It's very special for me," Clement said. "We have similar games but he was always a little bit better than me. Two or three times it was close, but always a little better at the important moments. Today was a little bit different."

Clement, who will face either Russian Marat Safin or South African Wesley Moodie in the semi-finals, broke a hex for the second match in a row. Slovakian fifth seed Dominik Hrbaty was 3-0 against him before losing Thursday.

"This was the biggest one," Clement said. "I was very frustrated."

Hewitt won only 43 percent of his first serve points while Clement fired 11 aces and recovered from squandering a 4-1 lead in the first set by breaking Hewitt to equalize at 5-5 and then dominating the tie-breaker.

"I sort of gave him a little bit of wind to hang in there," Hewitt said. "Rarely does he beat himself. That's why you have got to step up out there against him."