Rivals take contrasting paths

ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS: Murray toils against Raonic, Djokovic crushes Nishikori

ANDY Murray and Novak Djokovic, the dominant forces of men’s tennis, on Saturday took vastly different paths to the title match of the ATP World Tour Finals.

Murray, who should trademark the ‘tennis epic’, spent three hours 38 minutes — a tournament record — quelling the ferocious firepower of Milos Raonic, dragging himself to a 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (11-9) victory in a fever-pitch atmosphere at the O2 Arena.

The Scot had barely finished his post-match news conference before Djokovic completed a 6-1 6-1 rout of Japanese Kei Nishikori.

Murray, who plunged into an ice bath after surviving his gruelling battle, including saving a match point, also spent three hours 20 minutes beating Nishikori on Wednesday.

The Scot was outplayed at times by the powerful 25-year-old Canadian who, apart from a two-game dip that cost him control of the match in the second set, was relentless.

Raonic led by a set and a break, twice broke serve to stay alive in a gripping decider, then saw a match point come and go in the tiebreak as he, like everyone recently, found Murray an impossible riddle to solve.

Murray looked out on his feet at times but scratched and clawed his way to a 77th win of a remarkable year on his fourth match point when Raonic netted at 10-9 in a tense tiebreak.

“It was pretty dramatic,” the Scot said with a dose of under-statement. “It wasn’t just physically hard, it was mentally a tough match. It was pretty stressful.

“This is one of the hardest matches I’ve played indoors. I didn’t expect to play a long one with someone with a serve like Milos.

“I’m tired. I’ve played so much tennis over the last few months. I’ll give it my best effort, the best of what I have.”

On the other hand, Djokovic overwhelmed Nishikori, who held his serve only once all match.

“I pretty much executed everything I tactically planned to do,” Djokovic said.

“My level had been going in the right direction. I’m very glad I get to experience this feeling on the court.” Agencies