Andy Murray is perhaps getting more play than even he bargained for in Munich after three matches in one day yesterday. After rain had washed out all of Friday's play at the Munich Open, the British Tennis star was playing catch up in the men's singles. He responded magnificently to take two victories in a matter of hours against Lukas Rosol and then Roberto Bautista Agut. Sadly for British fans, a third match was lost in the men's doubles semi-finals.
The Scot had said that he was intent on gaining more game time on clay, ahead of the challenges to come at such as the French Open.
Munich has provided the perfect opportunity to do just that, as he now looks forward to doing battle with the German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the singles final on Sunday.
His first opponent on Saturday was the Czech Rosol, known as being a slightly prickly adversary on the ATP circuit. Murray had previously been spared the number nine seed's unsporting behaviours, but a fractious encounter developed in their quarter-final match.
The first set went to the Czech, as a purple patch of five winning games in a row saw him nudge ahead in the match. Tempers flared between the two players after they bumped into each other at the change of ends. Murray responded by letting his rival know just what he thought of him, clearly not wanting to let Rosol gain any psychological advantage.
The incident seemed to fire the British player up, as he went on to dominate proceedings. Five breaks of serve ensured an ultimately comfortable victory 4-6 6-3 6-2.
After the match, Murray explained his actions and apologised for saying to Rosol that "everyone hates you" (on the tour). However he was in no mood to back down during the match, after Rosol had apparently walked straight into him "for no reason" and not apologised at the time.
Rosol's fitness trainer instead made the apologies for the Czech player in the aftermath.
The semi-final proved to be a less intimidating confrontation with the Spaniard Bautista Agut. Murray turned around an early 3-0 deficit to take the first set, after two breaks of serve. With the momentum in his favour, he broke again at the beginning of the second set and served out for a solid 6-4 6-4 success.
With fatigue (both mental and physical) likely to have played at least a part, he lost his semi-final in the men's doubles event later on in the day. Paired with the Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer, they found the number one seeds too hot to handle. Their conquerors, Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares took the match 6-3 6-2 to advance into the final.
Number five seed Kohlschreiber awaits in Murray's first clay court final on the ATP tour. The German beat the Austrian qualifier Gerald Melzer 2-6 6-1 6-4 in the other last-four battle. Murray will be hoping for a shorter match than their epic encounter at last year's French Open. He finally got the better of his rival on that day at 12-10 in the fifth set.