Winning ugly

I seem to being US Open crazy this week and rightly so this has been one of the most exciting 10 days of sport that I have seen this summer, and long let it continue. Predictably however, unlike this tournament I am going to talk about the prodical son Andy Murray.

The British number 1 fought through his quarter-final match in four sets against Juan Martin Del Potro to reach his first grand slam semi-final. When comparing Murray's pefformance and how he has grown as the tourament has gone on leads to believe that he has a lot more in the tank.

His performance against Stanlis Wawrinka was stunning even by his standards a 'perfect' victory is the only way to describe it. He didn't put a foot wrong all match and dominated the number 10 seed.

Against Del Potro however I saw slightly different qualities that he didn't show against Wawrinka. He wasn't as flowing as the Argentine nor was he on the attack as much. He played very defensive and picked off the 19-year old when a chance came his way. His style of play was very patient and this is a good trate if he is to suceed against Rafael Nadal.

Del Potro had clearly done his home work on Murray. It was clear to me that he targetted the Brit's backhand on every occasion he got, and yet Murray can still come home with a win? it strikes me as a very impressive performance.

Murray had done a bit of work to. He learnt to hang back during and rallies a wait for Del Potro to become frustrated and go for an impossible winner. His defensive style reminds me of Nadal who as we know is the defensive king.

The Scot also showed a huge amount character to not let that occasion get ontop of him. Del Potro clearly had the mometnum going into the fourth set and even after being broken he kept his nerve and broke back and then went ahead as he headed towards a 7-5 win in the fourth.

The traits he showed in this match show to me that he can dominate the match even when he isn't the main aggressor. His role in last nights match was very passive and he allowed himself to focus on the job in hand.

Yes he has his work cut out against Nadal in the semi-final but for me if he is ever going to beat the Spainard it is hear and now. Is he ready? I think so