Murray on the move

THERE is a big climber in the tennis rankings today, but it’s not the one many predicted.

MURRAY High flyer MURRAY: High flyer

Rafael Nadal will have to wait before he knocks Roger Federer off his No1 perch, but Andy Murray is flying higher than ever as he jumped from nine to six after his exploits at the Cincinnati Masters.[>

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Murray guaranteed his move to six by beating Ivo Karlovic in Saturday’s semi-finals. But Nadal fell at the same hurdle, losing to Novak Djokovic.[>

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Nadal’s win over Nicolas Lapentti in the quarter-finals on Friday ensured he would finally succeed Federer as world No1 this month. But he needed to win the tournament to replace the Swiss immediately and his 6-1, 7-5 defeat by Djokovic means he must now wait until August 18.[>

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No such wait for Murray, who celebrates a career-high ranking today. It also increased the chances of achieving his goal of a top-eight seeding at the US Open in three weeks’ time.[>

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“It’s great to get as high as that,” said Murray. “At the beginning of the year a lot of people were asking me if my new set-up [after parting with coach Brad Gilbert] was going to work and questioning if it was the right thing for me to do.[>

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“My results showed it took a little bit of time but it is paying off, and I’m enjoying myself much more on court.[>

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“I’m much calmer and obviously my results have got better and better as the year has gone on.”[>

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Murray will now have Tim Henman’s high of No4 as a marker to aim at. Henman hit that high point six years ago during his long spell in the world’s top 10.[>

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Murray’s former coach Mark Petchey believes the Scot will make that leap into the elite of the men’s game.[>

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“I’ve been hugely impressed by Andy this summer,” he said. “I think it clicked for him at Wimbledon. He went into that tournament with so much expectation on his shoulders and he coped with it really well. Since then he has been playing really well. He has improved his fitness and his temperament has been exemplary.[>

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“He beat Karlovic in stifling heat, it was more than 100 degrees on the court and he kept his cool and beat one of the best servers in the game. Andy is ready to join the mix of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic and be one of the top players in the world.”[>

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Nadal, though, was a shadow of the player who romped to this year’s Wimbledon and French Open titles.[>

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He conceded before the match with Djokovic that he was struggling after a 32-match unbeaten run. “No one is unbeatable but the way he was playing we all thought he’s not going to lose any time soon,” said Djokovic.[>

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“I tried not to think of his winning streak and what his new ranking spot will be. I tried just to focus on my game.[>

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