So Andy Murray was in his 3rd final in under a month, he was again up against Tommy Robredo just like in Shenzhen. A bit like Shenzhen this match was full of drama and again Tommy had match points on Andy, and again it went to 5 match points but this was split over the whole match. Tommy took the first set 6-3 after a few loose games and points from a tired Andy. He broke early in the 2nd set, but then Tommy got the break back and we headed into a 2nd set tiebreak (Shenzhen anyone?). Tommy again had match points in this tiebreak (Shenzhen?!) but Andy saved them all and eventually took the set.
This meant we headed into a final set, and Tommy again broke Andy meaning they then had to swap serves and we headed into another tiebreak. Yet again Tommy had match points (this took him to the 5 he had in Shenzhen), finally Andy managed to win the tiebreak and the match. So why is this history? Easily explained by the following.
Andy has done something never before done, he has had 3 wildcards (Shenzhen, Vienna & Valencia), he has reached the final of all 3 events, and he has won all 3 events. This is a unique achivement as there are normally 4 or 5 different wildcard winners per year. Andy has also made his chances for qualification to the WTF much more likely as this win today moves him to 5th in the race and 6th in the official rankings. He will make certain of his qualification by a good performance in Paris, although he will be tired from the last 5 weeks of tennis - he has a bye in the first round so a bit longer to recover as he is 8th seed for Paris.