ABU DHABI // David Goffin has promised to do his best to keep the fans entertained in Friday’s Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) semi-final against Andy Murray after opening his campaign with an easy straight-sets win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
In five previous matches against Murray, Goffin has failed to even take a set off the Scot and the Belgian knows his task in the first of Friday’s semi-finals will not be any easier, given the way the world No 1 has played over the past six months.
“I am sure Andy will be as solid as he has been over the last six months, or even more,” said Goffin, who defeated Tsonga 7-6, 6-4 in his MWTC debut match on Thursday night. “So I will try to enjoy the match. I will just try to keep going like I did in this match tonight, and find my rhythm.
“I have played against Andy many times and it’s always tough. He has everything in his racket and it’s tough to find a weakness. So yeah, it’s going to be a nice match with a nice atmosphere. Maybe I can be effective [on Friday]. We will see, but I will try to play the best I can.”
Asked if he will take the court with a different game plan given their lopsided duels of the past, Goffin, 26, replied in the negative.
“When you play a tournament like this, it’s only to be ready and to prepare for the season,” he said. “It’s not about winning against Andy, or against Tsonga. You have to be ready before the start of the season — you have to feel your game, feel comfortable with what you have to do.
“So I will focus on what I need to do and then we will see if it is effective against Andy or not. But the main goal tomorrow will be to maintain the level I played at tonight, or play even better.”
Goffin, who has climbed to a career-best No 11 in the rankings after a season of personal bests in 2016, looked fluid as he bolted off the blocks against the world No 12, racing to a 4-1 lead before the Frenchman fought back to level at 4-4.
The Belgian, however, seized the initiative once again in the tiebreak and then broke Tsonga in the 10th game of the second set to book his place in the semis.
“I was up 4-1 in 15-20 minutes and playing so good,” said Goffin as he explained the blip. “And then you realise, ‘Wow, it’s 4-1’. You are on a double-break and you are serving, and then, sometimes, you can drop your level. Jo also started to play better, but then, when he came back to 4-4, I started to find my rhythm again. I was more consistent until the end of the match.
“So I am really happy with my performance. When you have not played any matches for a long time – for a month or six weeks – it’s not so easy to start. But I am pretty happy with the way I managed the match today and hopefully I can play better and better, match after match.”
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