US Open 2012: Andy Murray slams Raonic eying his first Grand Slam ever

The Arthur Ash Stadium at Flushing Meadows witnessed a master-stroke performance by Andy Murray as he decimated his opponent Milos Raonic in two hours to reach the final eight of the US Open. He won the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

This will be the 8th time the Brit will be playing a Grand Slam Quarter-Final facing Marin Cilic of Croatia on Wednesday. Murray is two steps behind Federer and Djokovic in terms of long-term streaks and hopes to win his career’s first Grand Slam Title.

With a total of two unforced errors in this game, the British player chose his attack and defence at will, dominating both the baseline and the net in-spite of the threat of heavy rainfall prior to the game. The young Canadian Raonic, who is not usually in awe of his rivals and had said beforehand the result would be in his hands alone, described Murray’s performance last night as “simply amazing”.

Raonic had only won his previous meeting with Andy – at April’s Barcelona Open and came into the match with 89 aces into the tournament but he was no match for the swift game play of Murray. It seems that the Olympic gold has done Murray a world of good since he’s been in top notch form after the game.

His game plan was standing behind the baselines to counter-attack Raonic’s speedy offerings so that he could burn out in the initial stages. And things worked as Murray planned, a sign of things to come.

Murray won 20 of 24 points on his serve in the first set. He capped the second with an ace that clipped a line, and ended things with a 129 service winner on match point.

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Andy Murray cruises past Ivan Dodig to reach third round of US Open 2012

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