Murray targeting grand slam glory in New York
Published:
ANDY Murray heads into the second week of the US Open seeing no reason why he should not target his first grand slam title in New York on Sunday.
The world No.6 advanced to a fourth-round meeting with 10th seed Stanislaw Wawrinka of Switzerland thanks to a comeback from two sets down against Austria’s Jurgen Melzer.
That equalled his best performance at the US Open, when he reached the last 16 in 2006 before losing to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in four sets.
Now, however, Murray believes he has a genuine chance of going much further.
“I think when you are at a tournament like this, there is a chance I could win,” Murray said following his 6-7 (5-7) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-3 victory over the 48th-ranked Melzer.
“So I say to myself, ‘I’m going to give it my best shot to try and win’. That’s my goal for the tournament, to try to win it.
“I don’t think that if you set yourself a target of the third round and you reach it, you can feel like you’ve achieved what you came here to do.
“I think it’s better to set the bar high and maybe you don’t reach it.”
Head-to-head, Murray and Wawrinka are tied at three victories apiece, yet all the Scot’s wins have come in their four hardcourt meetings, with two of the Swiss player’s coming on clay.
The British No.1 also has current form on his side, having won three of their four most recent encounters, the latest in Toronto at the end of July.
Despite his marathon duel with Melzer, Murray will have one more advantage over Wawrinka other than his seeding – the Swiss Olympic doubles-winning partner of Roger Federer spent even longer on court than the Scot.
Wawrinka also had to come back from two sets down against Italian Flavio Cipolla, the world No.142, needing four hours and 14 minutes to seal victory.
Murray insisted he felt “fine” and had no problems following his victory. He paid tribute to fitness trainers Matt Little and Jez Green for getting him into peak condition.
