Curtain came down on 2015 Miami Masters on Sunday with Novak Djokovic taking his fifth title at Crandon Park with a three-set victory over Great Britain’s Andy Murray. The Serb has been superb this season with victories in Australian Open and Indian Wells and he crossed another landmark by keeping his world no. 1 status intact for more than 141 weeks at a stretch to tie with Rafael Nadal. In another week, he will get past the Spaniard. With his victory over the Scot on Sunday, the 27-year old Djokovic took his head-to-head record against Murray to 18-8. With Emirates rankings announced on Monday, Murray has moved up to the third spot from the fourth despite his loss to the Serb in the final. Against expectations by media, Murray has not invited Novak Djokovic next Saturday for his wedding with childhood sweetheart Kim Sears. The last day of the 2015 Miami Masters also proved fortuitous for the top seeded Indo-Swiss women’s pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis, who notched up a back-to-back title victory after their successful outing at Indian Wells two weeks ago. Mirza/Hingis had a tougher time at Miami final than they had at California against the same opponents but they successfully overcame the sluggish start and emerged winners in the end. Their new partnership has proved to be an absolute dream start for them since they are yet to drop a set since they began playing together as a team.
It was a hot and humid day at Crandon Park, when the men’s singles final got underway. Both players looked troubled by weather but they had no option but to carry on. Andy Murray showed some aggression early in the first set and began by breaking Djokovic in the third game but couldn’t hold his serve in the next game as the Serb broke right back. The first set saw another trade of service breaks and took 67 minutes. These two had played similarly in the past but found serving from one end of the court troublesome as the sun looked into their eyes. Regardless, they had a succession of long rallies before the set went to the tie-break. Djokovic showed his dominance in taking the tie-break 7-3. The second set enthralled the crowd with some wonderful tennis from both men but Murray shifted to a higher gear and held on at the start of the second set. The Scot faced four break points in the third game but saved all of them. The set on serves afterwards until Djokovic served at 4-5. At 0-15 the Serb double-faulted and at 0-30, Murray produced a sensational forehand winner to hold three set points. Murray stepped up the tempo as he broke Djokovic with an unstoppable backhand cross-court return winner and pocketed the second set.
At the end of the second set, Djokovic lost his cool and yelled at nearby ball boy, who looked shaken. The umpire was quick to book a code violation against the Serb. However, Djokovic’s anger turned into an advantage for him as he broke Murray in the very first game of the third set. With the world no.1 holding his serve with ease, Murray found the going tough. The Scot looked more tired than the Serb, who was in no mood to relent at that juncture as he broke Murray yet again despite the Briton saving five break points. With the Serb racing away to a 4-0 lead, the end came swiftly as Djokovic won the final 7-6, 4-6, 6-0. This was Murray’s 12th consecutive defeat against Djokovic but the Scot still saw something positive after the match. He said that he was still happy to make good progress from where he was last year at this stage and though Djokovic was still beating him, he would work harder to match the world no.1 soon. The last time Murray won against the Serb was in the final Wimbledon 2013.
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis carried on from their Indian Wells victory two weeks ago and won the 2015 Miami Masters against the same opponents, they had beaten at Indian Wells. The start of their match was mired with a bit of sluggishness as they trailed 2-5 in the opening set against the second seeded Russians, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. But the Indo-Swiss combine re-composed themselves and reeled off five straight games to take the first set 7-5. The momentum continued in the second set as Mirza/Hingis won three more games to lead 3-0. After that the no.1 seeds allowed the Russians just one more game and wrapped up the match with an impressive score of 7-5, 6-1. For Sania Mirza, it was a career milestone as she notched up her 25th WTA doubles title.
