Andy Murray finds himself out but not down in Paris

There have been so many peculiar goings-on at Roland Garros in the past few days that the arrival of a second British male semi-finalist in five years would have been considered run-of-the-mill. That Andy Murray could not match Tim Henman's bravura form of 2004 owed more to the relentless brilliance of his opponent than anything over which he should bear lasting recrimination.
Fernando González, of Chile, the junior champion here 11 years ago and the oldest player left in the field at 28, reached his first semi-final at the French Open because he chose this day to perform in the manner of the champion he may well become this weekend. Murray, in his past four defeats at these “majors”, has found himself on the wrong end of four men - Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, Roger Federer at the US Open, Fernando Verdasco in Australia and González yesterday - in shuddering form.
He was yesterday's hollow-eyed press room inhabitant, beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 and following a distinguished line of players asked to assimilate matches they must have thought they would win, only to have that pleasure ripped from them. Commendably, he did not seek excuses, as neither did his fellow top-ten occupants Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga nor Gilles Simon before him. Defeats are torture, made worse when you cannot accept them in the proper spirit.
Murray tipped his hat to González, rightly so. The Chilean had reached the last eight without dropping a set; he has now forfeited only one and if he can maintain this form on Friday against Robin Söderling, the Swede who picked up against Davydenko where he left off against Nadal, a second grand-slam final beckons.
Those who believed him to be a one-trick pony, all forehand and fluff, now know better. Having seen much of him down the years, I cannot recall an afternoon when González has sliced his backhand to better effect, returned with such assuredness - again largely off the backhand - served so well, caused so much anguish with the drop shot and, yes, kept that forehand up his sleeve to unleash when it was required. His mis-hits could be counted on the fingers of one hand, which, against a player of Murray's renowned precision, is laudable.
What was difficult to fathom from a British perspective is why Murray went to sleep at the start of the third set having hauled himself so patiently back into the match by taking the second. He had two points for 1-1 and played sloppily, finally outdone by a rasping forehand winner up the line on break point as González once again remained patient in a groundstroke exchange and won it with a flourish. Before we knew it, the man in canary yellow had flown away with the set, for the loss of seven points.
Murray swallowed that and hung in. He earned a standing ovation on the first point of the fifth game in the fourth set when he slid from one side to the other, returning overheads and smashes from improbable positions, hoping he might draw something reckless from someone who does reckless pretty well. There was a sense, when he lost that point, that the Chilean would not buckle. Each game he won was completed with a dream shot, likesuch as the forehand winner in the eighth game when Murray had saved two break points with a couple ofequally glorious backhands down the line.
For the first time, González let rip with a throaty roar, only for it to diein the back of his throat when he immediately lost his serve to love. Could Murray mount the rearguard action to beat all rearguard actions? It was not to be, as he lost his next service game and the match, also to love, during which he played one of his poorest forehand drop shots, the mark of a dispirited man.
“His forehand is the biggest, he can hit winners from anywhere on the court,” Murray said. “He hits it great on the run, he can hit it from anywhere on the court. Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, he makes his mind up that he wants to hit a forehand on the shot, he runs around and spanks a winner. You can't do a whole lot with it. It's not like he wore me down. Physically there weren't any issues there. I just got myself back into the match in the fourth set and didn't take my opportunities when I had them.
“It's been a very good clay-court season, though, a lot better than in previous years. I stayed injury-free. I thought that I moved better. I had good results. Next year it would be good to improve a round or so each tournament, not have one early loss, and consistently get to the end of the tournaments.” It is asking much, but he can do it.
Söderling proved that his defeat of Nadal was no flash in the pan. It is hard to think of anyone you would less like to meet the round after Nadal than Davydenko, but the Swede lost only five games as he completed a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory in an hour and 41 minutes.
He has now won eight matches in a row, better than anything in his career. The last Swede to reach the final here, Magnus Norman in 2000, is his coach. Norman was dating Martina Hingis at the time, which meant he was a bit distracted, but he still kept Gustavo Kuerten waiting until his eleventh championship point to secure victory. Söderling has an attractive lady on his arm. They know how to relax and enjoy themselves, do the Swedes.
Source:The times