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October 12, 2012
SHANGHAI, CHINA
A. MURRAY/R. Stepanek
4‑6, 6‑2, 6‑3
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. You looked frustrated with yourself really until sort of well into the second set. How did you sort of turn it around?
ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, to be honest, I felt okay in the first set. Didn't really say too much. It was quite a scrappy first couple of sets. Obviously the second set I managed to get a break, got a bit of momentum.
For me, the beginning of the third set was what was most frustrating. I got a hold the first game, then was up Love‑40 on his serve, had broken him the last two service games. I played a couple of really poor shots I would hopefully not normally make on points like that. He got that game. Then I got broken the following game after a couple long rallies. He had some unbelievable gets. That period of the match was tough.
Then I just managed to turn it around in time. I played actually very well I thought the last 10, 15 minutes of the match. But it was quite scrappy, the first couple of sets.
Q. After the game, we saw that you wrote 'happy birthday' to somebody. I didn't recognize the name. People said it's for your girlfriend. Is that true?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's her birthday today.
Q. So it's a wish, a surprise?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I didn't tell her I was going to write that. I hadn't really thought about it until I finished the match. It's also my guess she was surprised.
Q. You wanted to win this game very much?
ANDY MURRAY: I wanted to win for her (smiling)? I guess so, yeah.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about the ending of the third set, because you won 21 of the last 26 points. It just seemed like you shifted gears.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, started going for my shots and dictated a majority of those at the end of the match. Obviously I needed to 'cause he was playing with a lot of variety, making it hard for me. I was a little bit tentative on some shots. Allowed him to come forward.
He has very flat strokes. When he's in control of the points, he's hitting it very close to the line. It's very, very tough to play against.
When I managed to push him back behind the baseline, I started to open up the court better and, yeah, just had a little bit more intensity at the end of the match.
Q. You could face Roger for the first time since the Olympic final. Can you talk about what playing Roger does for you, what you enjoy about it when you're out on court.
ANDY MURRAY: Well, you know, to win the match you need to play great tennis. In some ways maybe it relaxes you a little bit because you know exactly what you have to do. You have to play a top‑quality match to win, so you're always prepared for that.
Yeah, it's a challenge playing against him because he has a lot of variety in his game. He can win points from a lot of different parts of the court. Each time you play against him, there's things that happen a lot differently compared with the previous time so you need to make sure that you're on your toes and you're ready to make some adjustments during the match, as well.
You need to think while you're out there against him, that's for sure. It's always very, very tough playing against him. Yeah, you need to make sure that you're prepared to make adjustments during the match.
Q. Are you satisfied with your serve, your first‑serve percentage? It was 54%. Are you satisfied with that?
ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I don't know. I mean, I'd maybe like one or two percent higher. That's a difference of one or two serves in the match, so it doesn't make a massive difference.
I mean, everyone would like to serve at 70% of first serves in, but very few guys serve that high now. The guys that do are ones that are trying to win free points.
Anything in the high 50s for me is a good number. So one or two percent difference would maybe help a little bit.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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