The 2013 Andy Murray tennis season officially began at the Brisbane International where he was the defending champion. He successfully defended that title, defeating Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the final.Murray clinches Brisbane crown – ABC Grandstand Sport – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) After a quarterfinal showing at Indian Wells, where he lost to Juan Martín del Potro in 3 sets, Murray recovered to win the Miami Masters for the second time, defeating David Ferrer in the final. Winning in Miami meant that Murray overtook Roger Federer as World No. 2, the first time Murray had held the ranking since September 2009, meaning that neither Federer nor Rafael Nadal were ranked in the top 2 for the first time since the end of 2003. During the summer Murray won his first Wimbledon title, defeating Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets to end Britain's 77-year wait for a home grown men's champion. It was Murray's second major title, and third consecutive title on grass, after winning at the Olympics the previous year, meaning he extended his winning streak on grass to 18 matches. In the summer hard court season, Murray failed to defend his US Open title, losing to Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. Following the Davis Cup World Group play-offs, during which Murray won both his singles and the doubles rubber, he ended his season prematurely in order to undergo surgery on a long-standing back problem that had caused him trouble for over a year and a half. He ended the season ranked number 4 in the world, behind Nadal, Djokovic and Ferrer.
Yearly summary
Australian Open series
Brisbane International Murray began his season at the 2013 Brisbane International, where he was the top seed. He defeated Australian John Millman, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan and Kei Nishikori of Japan (retired) en route to reaching the final for the second consecutive year. Here he faced Bulgarian young gun Grigor Dimitrov, who was competing in his first tour-level final. Despite being broken in the first set, Murray came back to dominate the tiebreak, winning 7 points in a row, then proceeding the second set by 6 games to 4, thus successfully defending his Brisbane title. The victory in Brisbane took Murray's career titles tally to 25, and at the trophy ceremony, Murray dedicated the victory to close friend and Davis Cup teammate Ross Hutchins, who at the time had just been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Australian Open Murray next competed at the 2013 Australian Open, where he was the No. 3 seed. He made light work of his first two matches, defeating Dutchman Robin Haase and Portugal's João Sousa respectively, each in straight sets, to set up a third round meeting with his practice partner Ričardas Berankis of Lithuania, who had qualified for the tournament the previous week. Despite having his service broken several times, Murray managed to defeat Berankis in straight sets. He next faced French 14th seed Gilles Simon in the fourth round, winning in straight sets and subsequently advancing to the quarter-finals for the ninth straight Grand Slam tournament, and without dropping a set. In the semifinals, Murray met Roger Federer in their first Grand Slam semifinal and fourth Grand Slam meeting overall, their previous three meetings all having come in finals. After exchanging sets over the first four, including Federer taking the second and fourth each in tiebreaks, Murray eventually prevailed in five sets to set up a second consecutive final against Novak Djokovic. In beating Federer, Murray also matched Fred Perry's Grand Slam match win total of 106. In the final against Djokovic, Murray took the first set in a tiebreak, but ultimately lost in four sets, an untimely double fault in the second set proving fatal.
Spring American hardcourt season
Indian Wells Following his final defeat in Melbourne, Murray took a six-week break in order to train for the first two Masters 1000 series tournaments of the year. He entered the 2013 BNP Paribas Open having not won a match since 2010, when he reached the quarterfinals, so had minimum points to defend. After receiving a bye into round two, the Scot faced Russian Evgeny Donskoy, the first meeting between the two. Murray dropped the first set in the 12th game, however then went on to win the next two sets for the loss of just 4 games. He won both of his next two matches in straight sets, against Chinese Taipei's Yen-hsun Lu and Argentine Carlos Berlocq respectively to set up a quarterfinal clash with Juan Martín del Potro. Despite holding a strong advantage in their head-to-head, having won 5 out of 6 meetings, Murray wasn't able to capitalise on winning the opening set in a tiebreaker, losing in three sets to the eventual finalist.
Miami Masters Following his defeat in Indian Wells, Murray returned to Miami for the Sony Open Tennis tournament. Murray faced two potentially tricky opponents in young up-and-comers Bernard Tomic of Australia, and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov respectively, however overcame both in straight sets. He backed this up with an 84-minute victory over Italian Andreas Seppi, making it to his fourth straight quarterfinal of the year, where he faced Marin Čilić of Croatia. Despite a considerable number of lengthy games and rallies, including nine breaks of serve, one game that lasted over 15 minutes, and seven match points, Murray triumphed in just over an hour and a half in straight sets, to reach the semifinals of the Miami Masters for the fourth time. In the semifinals, Murray faced Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who had beaten fourth seed Tomáš Berdych in the last 8. Murray lost the first set in a tiebreak, despite serving for the set at 5–4, before taking the second and third sets for the loss of just three games. In the final Murray faced Spaniard David Ferrer, the second time the two have met in a final at a Masters 1000 tournament. After losing the first five games of the match, Murray eventually won in three sets, after saving a match point at 6–5 down on serve in the final set, following which he dominated the tiebreak to win his second Miami title, and 9th masters 1000 title overall. Following this victory, Murray moved up to No. 2 in the world rankings for the first time since September 2009, thus marking the first time in almost ten years in which neither Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal was ranked inside the top two.Murray beats Ferrer to win Miami Masters - ABC Grandstand Sport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
European clay court season Following a two-week break, Murray headed to Monaco for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where Spaniard Rafael Nadal was 8-time defending champion. After receiving a bye into the second round, Murray won his opening match against qualifier Édouard Roger-Vasselin of France in straight sets, before being defeated by Swiss number 2 Stanislas Wawrinka, who had previously won both of their previous meetings on clay. Due to this, Murray dropped to World No. 3 in the week starting 22 April 2013.
At the Mutua Madrid Open, Murray faced Florian Mayer of Germany in the second round, after a first round bye. Despite facing several set points, the Scot overcame the German number 3 in straight sets to record his 400th career win.BBC Sport - Madrid Open: Andy Murray beats Florian Mayer for 400th win He faced Frenchman Gilles Simon in round three, and needed three hours, three sets and 6 match points to record his 11th straight victory over Simon, and reach his first clay court quarterfinal of the year. He will next play against the 2012 runner-up Tomáš Berdych, whom Murray has defeated three times in their past four meetings, however has yet to record a victory over the Czech on clay. Murray will also return to the number 2 ranking after the tournaments conclusion, following a defeat of Roger Federer by Japanese rising star Kei Nishikori in the third round.Madrid Masters 2013: Federer's loss to Nishikori hands No2 to Murray | Tennis | The Sport Review In the quarter-finals, Murray lost to Tomáš Berdych in straight sets.Murray exits Madrid as Nadal scrapes through - ABC Grandstand Sport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) At the Rome Masters, Murray recovered from a set and a double break down against Marcel Granollers to level the match in a tie-break, only to retire before the start of the third set, citing a back injury. This was the first time Murray had retired mid-match since Hamburg in 2007, when he withdrew from his match against Filippo Volandri during the first set, despite being a double break up.
The back injury he suffered in Rome ultimately forced him to withdraw from the French Open, making this the first Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon in 2007 that he has missed due to injury.Andy Murray withdraws from French Open due to a back injury - ABC Grandstand Sport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Despite aiming to improve his clay court results, Murray only managed to gain 10 points more than 2012 in the lead up to the French Open, as over-preparation ultimately lead to him aggravating a recurring back injury.
Grass court season
Queen's Club Championships Murray entered the grass court season having won 12 of his previous 13 matches on grass, spanning back to last year's Wimbledon, and having not lost since the final. His first tournament after missing the French Open was at the Queen's Club Championships, where he was the top seed. After receiving a first round bye, Murray's first match in the second round pitted him against Nicolas Mahut, who had knocked him out at the same stage the previous year. Despite not having competed for a month, Murray overcame Mahut in straight sets, which he followed up with straight sets wins over Marinko Matosevic and Benjamin Becker respectively. His first match against a top 10 opponent came in the form of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whom Murray had defeated in the final two years previously. He overcame a slow start that saw him lose the first set to win in three, and set up a clash with 5th seed and defending champion Marin Čilić. Once again Murray had to recover from a set down, and went on to defeat Čilić in three sets to win his third Queen's title, becoming the first British man since Arthur Gore to win the tournament three times. The final was followed by a charity doubles match with Tim Henman, fellow top 10 player Tomáš Berdych and former world no. 1 and Murray's coach Ivan Lendl. The match was organised to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, after Murray's Davis Cup teammate and close friend Ross Hutchins was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in December 2012.
Wimbledon