Andy Murray and Philipp Kohlschreiber battled through a gripping contest spanning two days.
With a baseline game built around consistency, defense and physicality—along with a stint training as a teen at the famed Casal-Sanchez Academy in Spain—it would’ve seemed clay-court success would’ve been a given for Murray on the pro tour. By 2015, though, Scotland’s greatest player ever—who had established himself as a future Hall of Famer with two Grand Slam victories; an Olympic Gold Medal; and multiple titles on hard courts, grass and indoors—had yet to win a clay-court tournament. In fact, the two-time French Open semifinalist hadn’t reached a final on dirt.
The just-married world No. 3 kicked off his clay-court season in 2015 at the BMW Open in Munich, Germany, as the top seed. Murray was the only member of the Top 10 to play the tournament that year. In the quarterfinals, he beat Lukas Rosol in a fiery three sets, and then in the semifinals, he defeated Roberto Bautista Agut.
In the title tilt, he would face Kohlschreiber, who was playing in his fourth final at the event since 2007. On his way to the final, Kohlschreiber beat David Goffin and qualifier Gerald Melzer in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, in back-to-back three-setters.
Kohlschreiber started the final off with an early 3-2 lead. However, there was nothing he could do about the most unstoppable opponent: Mother Nature. Rain halted play and didn’t let up, forcing the match to be completed on Monday.
When action resumed, it was Murray who would go on to capture the first set in a tiebreak. In the second set, the players went toe-to-toe until Kohlschreiber was serving at 3-4 down, and faced multiple break points. He would hold, and then eventually break Murray to take a 6-5 lead, before serving out the set.
In the decider, neither player lost their serve, with the championship headed for a tiebreak. As the match pushed past the three-hour mark, it was Murray who took the clincher 7-4, for his first clay-court title.
48
Munich 2015 was Murray’s 48th career final, and his first on clay. Compared with his contemporaries in the ATP’s “Big 4,” Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s first career finals were on clay, while Roger Federer reached a clay-court final in his ninth title-round appearance.
10
The prior match Murray and Kohlschreiber played, at the 2014 French Open, also went the distance, with Murray winning the fifth set 12-10.
8
This was the eighth time Kohlschreiber reached a final at a tour stop in Germany (his fourth time in Munich).
