Murray making major strides

TENNIS/San Jose Open:While the excitement, clamour and expectation will continue to grow as 19-year-old Andy Murray moves closer to the world's top 10, a place he may achieve by next month or early April, the young Scot knows well enough that his true merit will always be measured by the number of titles he wins - and major titles at that.

Sunday night saw his successful defence of the SAP Open title in San Jose after a thrilling victory over the giant Croat Ivo Karlovic that was decided in a third-set tie-break.

But, of the current top 10 players only Roger Federer (10), Rafael Nadal (two) and Andy Roddick (one) have won a grand slam title. Clearly this is a reflection of Federer's dominance over the last three years and Murray echoed the thoughts of every other player during this year's Australian Open when he said he hoped the departure of the world number one would be "pretty soon".

This was, of course, meant to be flip. Federer is 25 and has stated his intentions of being around for the 2012 Olympic Games in London when the tennis will be on his beloved grass at Wimbledon. This week Federer equalled Jimmy Connors' record of 160 consecutive weeks at number one.

Yet Murray has already beaten him, even though the Swiss was less than focused when the two met in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters last year. But Murray's win proved he was capable of taking sharp advantage over any leading player whose game is a little off and this year, having worked assiduously on his fitness, he is more dangerous.

It is accepted that Murray has one of the best defensive games on the circuit and now he is adding beef to his ground strokes and serve. He has lost only one three-set match this year, the final in Doha where he was beaten by Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, the world number eight.

The only other player to have beaten him was Nadal in the fourth round of the Australian Open over five sets.

What singles Murray out among all the young hopefuls and the majority of those inside the top 20 is his variety. Television can do him an injustice, just as it used to with the bowling of Derek Underwood, the Kent and England spinner.

Watching Underwood from side on was to marvel at the change of speed and trajectory and the same applies to Murray. Whereas many modern players, both men and women, stand at the back of the court and flail at the ball with no hint of subtlety or slice, the Scot is constantly mixing up play, getting his opponent both off balance and frustrated. And this is a joy.

Murray's movement is also excellent, coupled with his ability to find exactly the right shot, pace and angle when he gets to the sort of ball most other players would be happy enough merely to get back into play.

Allied to his all-court game is his mental toughness. He has reached the final 16 in his last three major championships, while winning in San Jose a second time underlined his ability to perform when the heat is on.

Because the rankings incorporate the last 12 months Murray remained at number 13 after this win. But he has very few points to defend between now and Wimbledon and a great many to gain during the Masters series events, second only to the four majors, in Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg.

The last word goes to his American coach, Brad Gilbert. "Andy has gained about 10 pounds, he's stronger, he's serving bigger and he's fitter. And he's got a great brain. He's 19 years old and he's going places."

Guardian Service