Andy Murray beats Marin Cilic to reach the Queen's Club final
| Aegon Championships final |
|---|
| Venue: Queen’s Club, London Date: Sunday, 19 June Time: 14:00 BST |
| Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. Click for more details |
Andy Murray played a terrific final set to beat former champion Marin Cilic and reach the Aegon Championships final.
The Briton, seeded number one and trying to win a record fifth Queen’s Club title, won 6-3 4-6 6-3.
Murray is through to the final in his first tournament since reuniting with coach Ivan Lendl on Monday.
The Scot, 29, will play Canadian third seed Milos Raonic in Sunday’s final, which starts at 14:00 BST and will be on BBC One.
| Match stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Murray | Cilic | |
| 14 | Aces | 8 |
| 1 | Double faults | 1 |
| 72 | First serve % | 58 |
| 80 | Pts won on first serve (%) | 63 |
| 48 | Pts won on second serve (%) | 62 |
| 3/10 | Break point conversion | 1/6 |
“I knew I was going to have to play really well to win and in the third set the intensity got raised, the level raised a little bit,” Murray told BBC Sport.
His final against Raonic – who beat Australian Bernard Tomic 6-4 6-4 – brings former playing rivals Lendl and John McEnroe into opposition as coaches for the first time.
“It’s not about who’s in the opposite corner,” added Murray.
“John was obviously an unbelievable player and a great, great grass-court player, so I’m sure he’ll help Milos a lot, but I’m happy with my team and we’ll get ready for tomorrow.”
Superb serving carries Murray through
Murray crushed a resurgent Cilic with some of his best tennis after being taken to a final set.
Cilic had seen five break points come and go before finally edging ahead in the second set – but was then swept aside by the world number two.
Murray had taken the first set with two breaks of serve, after holding off four break points in game three as his second serve came under pressure.
Inspired to play tennis?
Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.
The momentum switched in the second when Murray finally dropped serve at 3-3 and then failed to level from 0-40 in the next game.
Cilic, watched by his own ‘super coach’ in former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, punched his fist as he tried to win a share of affection from the pro-Murray crowd.
The Scot remained focused on the job in hand, however, racing through his first service game of the decider and then breaking after the latest of several thumping cross-court forehands.
There was a long way to go from 2-0 but Murray would offer up just two points on serve – making 77% of his first serves – as Cilic was given nothing to work with.
Murray went close to sealing victory with another break in an eight-minute game but in the end could rely on the serve to wrap it up with no alarms.
“I think on this surface, the serve’s an important shot because when the first serve lands, you can get a lot of free points,” said Murray.
“That last game serving for it, to get three free points, two aces, when you’re trying to serve it out is big. Hopefully I can serve like that again tomorrow.”
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox.