Murray v Verdasco gamewatch

Australian Open, Melbourne Park

Second round result:

A MURRAY (GB) bt F Verdasco (Sp)

7-6 (7-4) 7-5 6-4

* denotes server

GAME-BY-GAME UPDATES

By Piers Newbery

Third set:

Murray 6-4 Verdasco
Murray opens the game with an impressive drive volley and quickly moves to 40-0. Typically, Verdasco chooses this moment to start playing again and thumps his way back to deuce. Murray fires down a big serve, has a scream at his coach Brad Gilbert in the stands, before Verdasco then comes up with a stunning drop volley.

Match point number five and Verdasco does the decent thing, sticking his return wide, and Murray takes the applause from the crowd. Gilbert wrote a book called 'Winning Ugly' and that's exactly what Murray did today, which is a good sign for the future if not exactly easy on the eye.

Murray 5-4 Verdasco
Verdasco holds relatively comfortably, although there is a double fault obviously, and Murray must now hold serve to set up a third-round clash with Juan Ignacio Chela.

Murray 5-3 Verdasco
My hopes of heading off to buy some breakfast in the near future are under threat when Murray slips to 15-30 but, thankfully, our man shows his fighting qualities to turn the game around. Again, it is the first serve that is the key.

Murray 4-3 Verdasco
Well, the set is back in the balance as Verdasco holds to 30, closing out with a fizzing backhand winner. Murray still has the advantage of a break but that has not meant much so far in this match and Verdasco marched back to his chair with the air of a determined man.

Murray 4-2 Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona - to give him his full name - may have other ideas. To be honest, I doubt it, but he gets one of the breaks back as Murray reverts to the lethargic style of the first set.

Murray 4-1 Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona - to give him his full name - is heading for the exit. Murray again gets to 0-40 and this time breaks at the first opportunity with a fine smash.

Murray 3-1 Verdasco
The set is limping along at the moment but Murray has at least found some form and is looking much sharper on serve now, wrapping up another love game.

Murray 2-1 Verdasco
Verdasco stays alive after saving four break points, although he's hardly looking solid. At one game point he plays a drive-volley on a ball that is clearly going out. It goes in the net. Murray finds an opportunity to swear at full volume over a line call. As I say, it's hot out there.

Murray 2-0 Verdasco
That's more like it. The Murray first serve makes a welcome appearance and he holds to love for the first time in the match.

Murray 1-0 Verdasco
Oh, Fernando. Understandably, the man from Madrid looks a little defelated and slips to 0-40. Murray had the same situation in the last set but this time converts at the second chance, forcing a volley error from Verdasco.

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Second set:

Murray 7-5 Verdasco
Whatever Verdasco had applied to his toes, I want some. The Spaniard rediscovers his best form with a couple of big winners to earn two break points. However, this time Verdasco misses with sucessive returns. Murray wallops down a service winner and an ace and lets out a shriek that is more relief than delight. He's not at his best but, when necessary, Murray has done enough.

Verdasco appears to be having nail varnish applied by the trainer but presumably it's something to do with blisters. Meanwhile, Murray prowls around in the shade behind the baseline. I take advantage and go for a 'comfort break'.

Murray 6-5 Verdasco
A hilariously bad forehand that only just bounces before it hits the back fence prompts Verdasco to repeatedly whack himself over the head with his racquet. Not surprisingly, he misses a forehand on the next point to give Murray break point. Murray then constructs a patient point before moving to the net and putting away the volley. Just got to hold serve now, eh?

Verdasco immediately takes his left shoe off and calls for the trainer. Murray settles back with an ice-cream. Not really.

Murray 5-5 Verdasco
What should have been a tough game for Murray is a breeze as Verdasco is blowing very cold at the moment, opening with three unforced errors. Murray wraps things up with a fine forehand winner down the line.

Murray 4-5 Verdasco
Verdasco lets Murray back to 30-30 with a double fault and a wayward forehand but Murray nets an approach with the court opening up. Verdasco holds and the atmosphere is as flat as a pancake at the moment.

Murray 4-4 Verdasco
Murray screams in despair when Verdasco swarms all over the net to take the game to deuce. He's in trouble in the next point too but comes up with his best shot of the day - a running cross-court forehand pass. An ace follows and maybe that will inspire Murray, it's certainly cheered me up.

Murray 3-4 Verdasco
That game pretty much sums up Verdasco, two great shots followed by three stinkers. Murray is handed a break point and the Spaniard double faults. If I played four points like that they'd be retrieving my racquet from the nearest tree.

Murray 2-4 Verdasco
What you don't need when you're 4-1 down and the sun is melting the Rebound Ace is for your opponent to start getting net cords. Verdasco benefits from just that to go 15-30 up but Murray does well to come through from deuce, and the set is still alive.

Murray 1-4 Verdasco
The heat is starting to affect me now, and I'm in Shepherd's Bush. Verdasco, not surprisingly perhaps, looks the more comfortable out there and holds to love.

Murray 1-3 Verdasco
The heat seems to have taken the sting out of everyone - the crowd and the players. It must be affecting Murray, who looks more passive than ever as Verdasco unleashes a couple of huge forehands and breaks serve. We could be in for a long one.

Murray 1-2 Verdasco
Oh dear. Murray has a golden opportunity to really take command with three break points at 0-40 but cannot convert any of them, shanking a forehand on the last of them. Verdasco holds serve and that could be a big blow to the Brit.

Murray 1-1 Verdasco
At 15-30 we look set for the 57th break of serve but Murray benefits from a net cord. Two points later he reminds us of what he's really good at, chasing down a lost cause and producing a superb angled backhand winner.

Murray 1-0 Verdasco
Murray continues to chip away at the umpire on the changeover, although in fairness it looks hotter than hell out there. Not the natural habitat for a Briton. Anyway, Verdasco gets the second set off to a more regulation start with a solid service game.

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First set:

Murray 7-6 (7-4) Verdasco
Well, he gets there in the end. Murray takes a set he really shouldn't have after being down a break three times. The tie-break is similarly scrappy but the Scot takes it because he strings together three good points from 3-3. Verdasco misses with a backhand on the second set point.

Murray 6-6 Verdasco
He likes a bit of power tennis, old Fernando. He hits two of the hardest forehand winners you will ever see but Murray scampers around and pegs him back to 30-30. Verdasco then takes charge of the next rally and thumps away an overhead. A Murray error brings us to a tie-break.

Murray 6-5 Verdasco
It doesn't get much scrappier than this. Verdasco gets to 15-30 up and then puts a backhand into the bottom of the net. After a long rally on Murray's game point Verdasco appears to get bored and plays the kind of drop shot that you can see on park courts across the country every weekend. It hits the net.

Murray 5-5 Verdasco
Verdasco makes four errors, interspersed with a couple of searing winners, which pretty much sums this set up. The fifth break of serve in a row throws the set back in the balance.

Murray 4-5 Verdasco
Murray can't buy a first serve and it's hurting him badly. At 30-30 yet another second serve is thumped away by Verdasco and on the break point the Spaniard dominates the rally.

Murray 4-4 Verdasco
The see-saw set swings back in Murray's favour as he gets to break point and then sends up a decent lob which Verdasco, on the stretch, puts wide. Murray now needs to sort out his first serve percentage to take a bit of pressure off his service games.

Murray 3-4 Verdasco
A poor game from Murray and the third break of serve in a row. The British number one is just too tentative behind his serve and letting Verdasco into the rallies. The winner here will play the less-than-chirpy Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, who's just beaten Jarkko Nieminen on Court 3. Chela beat Murray in the first round last year.

Murray 3-3 Verdasco
Verdasco shows why he is 35 in the world and not number five - after five excellent games he plays an absolute shocker, missing three regulation forehands and dropping serve to love.

Murray 2-3 Verdasco
Murray's game is based around being a counter-puncher but at the moment that is working against him as it is handing the initiative to Verdasco. The Briton looks in trouble again but wins a clever exchange at the net before hitting a service winner for the game. He's chuntering away to the umpire at the changeover again and is not in the best of moods.

Murray 1-3 Verdasco
Verdasco made the fourth round at Wimbledon last year and at the moment is playing like a grass-court specialist, swinging in big left-handed serves and attacking the net. Murray cannot deal with his power at the moment, particularly on serve.

Murray 1-2 Verdasco
Verdasco shows what he's capable of with a couple of superb points - first punching away an angled backhand volley and then thumping a backhand return cross court. The first break point of the match goes to the Spaniard and he comes to the net again, prompting Murray to miss his attempted pass.

Murray 1-1 Verdasco
Some clever stuff from Murray, constantly changing the pace and the spin on his groundstrokes, brings a couple of errors from Verdasco and a 15-30 lead but he cannot take advantage and the Spaniard holds.

Murray 1-0 Verdasco
The first point of the match is a lengthy baseline exchange that Murray ends with a forehand winner down the line - hopefully a sign of things to come. Murray gets to 40-0 before letting a couple of points slip, but Verdasco nets a forehand to give up the game. It already looks pretty hot out there and the Brit will not want a long match.

The match is slightly delayed while the roof is opened on the Vodafone Arena as the earlier rain has cleared up.

Murray was in blistering form in his opening match, dropping just one game against Alberto Martin, but this Spaniard should prove stiffer opposition.

Verdasco is ranked 19 places lower than Murray at 35 in the world but has had wins over the likes of Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian. The 23-year-old is a streaky player with a massive forehand - on a good day he can beat anyone.