Andy Murray wins Munich Open to claim first clay court title

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/04/andy-murray-wins-munich-open

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Andy Murray described his first clay-court victory as an “honour” as he ended a 39-year wait for a British men’s winner on the surface by taking the BMW Open in Munich.

The 27-year-old, playing in his first tournament since marrying his long-term girlfriend, Kim Sears, last month, was pushed all the way by Philipp Kohlschreiber but came through to take the win in just over three hours.

Rain prevented the final being concluded on Sunday and home favourite Kohlschreiber made sure it was not all plain sailing for the world No3 before Murray eventually recorded a 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 victory, winning both tie-breaks 7-4.

As he builds up to the French Open Murray was pleased to break his duck on clay – almost 40 years since Buster Mottram took Britain’s last tour win on the dirt.

“It was a really tough match, he served very close to the line and I was getting frustrated,” Murray said after collecting his 32nd career title. “The rain made things really tough but as a Scot I’m used to that. It’s been a hard couple of days, so I am very happy to have won, especially on clay. I didn’t realise I was the first Brit to win on clay for so long, so that’s obviously an honour.”

Resuming on Monday morning with Kohlschreiber holding a 3-2 lead, Murray fought back to take the first set on a tie-break, wrapping up the set with a fine cross-court backhand. But Kohlschreiber, twice a winner of the BMW Open whose fifth and last tour title came almost 12 months ago on clay in Dusseldorf, retaliated in the second, the 31-year-old drawing level with the top-seeded Murray.

Much as in their meeting in the third round of last year’s French Open, this match went the distance as the pair traded service games in the decider, resulting in a final-set tie-break and taking the game over the three-hour mark. Murray eventually pulled away from Kohlschreiber to seal victory.

The pair will meet again on Wednesday in the Madrid Masters, if Kohlschreiber comes through his first-round match against the Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla. That would give the world No24 an early chance for revenge, but he was pleased to have run his opponent so close.

“It obviously really hurts when you have given your all, but I am really grateful for the support I got here,” Kohlschreiber said. “It’s too soon to think about the next tournament but it showed we are at the same level and both of us went to our limits.”