Monday 6 April 2009

Glorious Sunday for British Sport

It was quite a magnificent Sunday of British sport yesterday. It all started in Sepang Malaysia where Jenson Button after a poor start from pole battled up through the field from fourth and put in a couple of 'storming' laps after his nearest rivals had pitted for that first change of tires to come out well up the track.



However, when the rain came down Timo Glock made the audacious and in the end correct decision to go out on intermediate tyres while the rest of the field put on full wets and start to gain 6 seconds a lap. By the time they pulled Button in for Intermediates as well Glock was passing him as he sat in the pit lane.



Then just after all the field had changed to the Intermediates and Button had just regained P1 Glock dove back into the pits to start the move unto full wets first again to go to what was to prove to be the right tyre. When Jenson followed suit he had again to overtake the German but the race had become a power boat race by lap 32 and was red flagged. The drivers sitting on the grid in a thunderstorm waiting to see if they would restart. So it was that Jenson Button won his second Grand Prix of the season while sat on the grid under a brolly, he only needed a bowler hat instead of his helmet to make the British image complete.



Later in the day over in Miami rain wasn't going to be Andy Murray's worry. Storming to a 4-0 lead in the first set of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami against the man whose position in the rankings he is chasing down, Novak Djokovic, he eased to a 6-2 first set. And then at 1-0, a break up, in the first set he watched his opponent call for the trainer, it seemed to unsettle the Scot as he lost the next 5 games on the trot. But then found the flow of the first set to take six in succession to take the title dubbed the 'fifth grand slam' 6-2, 7-5. In doing so he equalled Tim Henman's career titles at an age when Henman only dreamed of being that good. He also now with three wins this season is the most successful champion on the mans tour as we head into the clay season.



The day was rounded up by Paul Casey over in Houston, where he didn't have a problem despite dropping his one shot led on the eighteenth and bogeying the play-off hole. It was still enough to secure him the Houston Open, his first win on the US Tour where he now plies his trade. An ideal built up to the US Masters later this month at Augusta.

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