World Tennis News – Federer fends off Murray for seventh Wimbledon title

This week’s edition of World Tennis News reviews the finals of the 2012 Championships, Wimbledon as the year’s third Grand Slam concluded at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Federer fends off Murray for seventh Wimbledon title

Roger Federer was back to his vintage best to defeat British No.1 Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 and become only the third man ever to win seven Wimbledon singles titles. 

Victory gives the Swiss 30 year-old a 17th Grand Slam title, extending his all-time record, and ensures he regains the World No.1 ranking to equal Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at the top spot.

Murray showed no sign of nerves in his first Wimbledon final, the first British man to achieve this since 1938, and made a superb start.  The fourth seed forced Federer into error on the first point and quickly had an early break to lead 2-0. 

Although Federer broke back in the fourth game, Murray remained strong and saved two break points in the eighth game.  The Briton broke Federer again to lead 5-4 and sealed the opening set with a service winner after 57 minutes.

Murray continued to pressure the Swiss in the second set.  Having staved off a break point in the second game Murray held two break points on the Federer serve in the fifth and ninth games.  Federer hung on both times and struck in the twelfth game with four points in a row, against the run of play, to break Murray and level the match with a delicate backhand stop volley.    

Heavy rain drove the players from the court at 1-1 in the third and forced the roof to be closed.  Upon the resumption a marathon 19 minute sixth game proved crucial.  After ten deuces Federer broke Murray on his sixth break point by forcing the Briton into error with a huge forehand into the corner.

The Swiss third seed remained strong on serve to clinch the set. However Murray’s level remained high and he created a break point in the second game of the fourth set only to see a forehand passing shot land just wide of the sideline.

Federer clinched the vital break in the sixth game with a dazzling backhand passing shot.  The British No.1 pushed the Swiss hard in his final two service games but Federer created two Championship points in the tenth game.

Murray saved the first with a heavy backhand forcing Federer into error but saw a forehand passing shot land just wide on the second as Federer completed a historic victory after three hours and 24 minutes of play.

Read more about the Men’s singles final.

Stat Attack – Federer

• With 75 career singles titles Federer is 4th in the Open Era and is now just two titles behind John McEnroe
• It is the first time since 2006 that Federer has won five singles titles in a season by the end of Wimbledon and the fifth time he has achieved this
• Federer lost five sets en route to the title – the most during any of his seven title runs - and lost 86 games which is the second most after he lost 114 in 2009
• Federer’s gap of 25 months between stints at No.1 is the longest since Andre Agassi regained the top ranking after a gap of 31 months in April 2003

Stat Attack – Murray

• The British No.1 is the 26th man in the Open Era to reach at least four Grand Slam singles final
• The 25 year-old now holds a 30-7 record at Wimbledon since making his senior debut at the Championships in 2005
• Murraywas appearing in his 34th career singles final and now holds a 22-12 record

Williams power sees off Radwanska comeback

Serena Williams won a fifth Wimbledon singles title by seeing off third seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in the first three-set women’s final at Wimbledon for six years.

Victory gives the 30 year-old American a 14th Grand Slam title and ensures she is the first woman for 22 years to win a Grand Slam in her thirties since Martina Navratilova won in 1990.

Williams had opened the final with a blistering backhand winner and was soon a break ahead as Radwanska appeared to be affected by nerves in her first Grand Slam final.

The American sixth seed broke again for 4-0 with a backhand return winner and took the opening set three games later with a service winner.

After a rain delay Williams broke to love to lead 2-1 and appeared on course for a dominant victory.  However the tenacious Radwanska fought back and broke the American in the eighth game when Williams went long with a forehand.

Radwanska inched ahead and the Pole broke in the eleventh game to level the match when Williams netted a backhand.

Radwanska battled through some hard fought games to lead 2-1 in the decider before Williams moved up through the gears. 

The 30 year-old served a perfect game of four aces to level at 2-2 and then broke serve in the fifth game by forcing Radwanska into error with a big crosscourt backhand.

The former World No.1 broke again for 5-2 and a service winner setup Championship point in the eighth game which she converted with a searing backhand winner down the line to win in two minutes over two hours.

Stat Attack – Williams

• It is the seventh time that Williams has swept both singles and doubles titles at a Grand Slam and the third time at Wimbledon
• Her 42nd career singles title moves Williams her past Kim Clijsters to 13th in the Open Era
• It is the seventh time in the American’s career that she has won at least 3 singles titles in a season
• The 30 year-old moves back to No.4 in this week’s WTA singles rankings which is her highest ranking since January 2011

Stat Attack – Radwanska

• Radwanska was aiming to become the seventh No.3 seed to win Wimbledon in the Open Era following Evonne Goolagong (1971), Billie Jean King (1975), Virginia Wade (1977), Conchita Martinez (1994), Jana Navotna (1998) and Lindsay Davenport (1999)
• The Pole moves to a new career high ranking of No.2 trailing Azarenka by 270 points and 160 points ahead of Sharapova
• Before Wimbledon Radwanska had been the only player in the top 15 not to reach a Grand Slam semi-final

Marray and Nielsen complete fairytale victory

Jonny Marray and Freddie Nielsen became the first wild card pairing to lift the Wimbledon Men’s Doubles title as they saw off two-time finalists Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3 in a thrilling final on Centre Court.

Marray became the first British man to win the doubles title since 1936 with Nielsen the first Danish player to win a Grand Slam title.  The team, who stunned defending Champions Bob and Mike Bryan in the semi-finals, had never played together on the main tour.

Read more about Marray and Nielsen’s amazing victory. 

Serena and Venus Williams claimed their fifth Women’s Doubles title at Wimbledon with a hard fought 7-5, 6-4 win over Czech sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in a late night final. The Americans have now won all 13 of their Grand Slam doubles finals.

The Mixed Doubles title went to second seeds Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond overcame fourth seeds Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.  Victory gave the Americans a third major title together and first for nine years following the 2003 French Open and 2002 US Open titles.