Andy Murray Reaches First ATP Finals Since 2017 at European Open 2019

Former World No.1 Andy Murray reaches his first ATP tour finals after 2 years and 8 months as he defeats the French rising star, Ugo Humbert 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals of the European Open 2019. With this victory, Murray will also enter the top 200 rankings as his comeback season continues following the hip resurfacing surgery, earlier this year.

Set one

Andy Murray started to trouble Ugo Humbert’s serve in the first game of the match as he took the game till duece but the French held his crucial opening serve. The Scot then earned two break point opportunities in the fifth game but Ugo Humbert hit three consecutive first serves to hold his serve.

However, Ugo Humbert stepped up in the next game and went onto break the 32-year-old to be on the driving seat in the first set. The 21-year-old closed the set 6-3 in 42 minutes with a perfect service game.

Set two

In the second set, Andy Murray struggled to hold his serve in his opening two service games. The 3-time Grand Slam champion changed gears in the fourth game when he saw an opportunity to break the Frenchman for the first time in the match.

The Brit capitalized on the fourth breakpoint opportunity, winning the point on Humbert’s second serve as he got back into the match with a lead of 3-1 in the second. Ugo Humbert didn’t stay on the back foot as he bagged a re-break in the next game to get back in serve.

While serving to stay in the set at 5-6, Andy Murray broke Humbert for the second time in the set and claimed the second set 7-5 in an hour, leveling back the match at 1-set all.

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Set three

Murray held a crucial first service game of the deciding set from 0-40 down.

Andy Murray earned an early break in the next game and held his serve to her a commanding lead of 3-0 in the final set.

Murray then made no mistakes whatsoever as he broke once again while Humbert was serving to stay in the match and won a fierce contest between the pair with the Brit eking, securing the deciding set 6-2 and closing the match in 2 hours and 25 minutes.

He will face the three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka for the title match at the ATP 250 event in Antwerp, Belgium on Sunday. Earlier, Stan Wawrinka defeated the next-generation player, Jannik Sinner in straight sets in the first semifinals of the Antwerp Open 2019.