ThrowbackTimes Queen's: Andy Murray tops Milos Raonic to write history

• Tennis News

In 2016, Andy Murray wrote history as the only player with five Queen's titles, beating Milos Raonic 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes. In his first ATP final on grass, the Canadian gave his best to oust the home favorite, having a set and a break lead before Murray turned the tables to cross the finish line first.

Murray lost only 22 points behind the initial shot and suffered one break that pushed Raonic 3-0 in the second set before restoring the order in his service games to mount the pressure on the other side of the net. In the end, the Briton grabbed four breaks from seven opportunities, taming Milos's serve in the encounter's second part to lift the fifth trophy at one of his favorite events.

Raonic had more winners and more errors, unable to create the difference in the shortest range up to four strokes and staying in touch with Andy in the more advanced exchanges to finish the match with five points less than the Briton.

They were off to a strong start, settling into a nice rhythm on serve and delivering one good hold after another. There was only one deuce in the entire set, in the first game on Murray's serve, with nothing for returners to work on in the remaining games before the tie break.

Milos started it with a mini-break in the first point and built a 5-2 advantage. Andy came back to 5-5 with a mini-break in the tenth point but gifted another mini-break at 5-6 following Raonic's forehand winner that moved the Canadian a set away from the title.

Things went from bad to worse for a four-time champion in set number two, playing a loose service game and finding himself 3-0 behind.

Andy Murray toppled Milos Raonic to claim the fifth Queen's crown in 2016.

Andy was in a hopeless situation at that moment, taking only one out of 13 points played in the second set and with a mission to break Milos' fearsome serve for the first time that week!

He played an excellent service game to get on the scoreboard and broke Raonic in the very next one, thanks to a great backhand return winner. In just a couple of minutes, Murray managed to make a complete turnover and stay neck and neck with his rival, not ready to pass his title that easily.

After holding his serve supremely for the entire week, Raonic was now broken for the second time in a row, as Murray took a 4-3 lead to control the set. After that break he suffered, Andy served great and grabbed the set with a hold in game ten to gather momentum ahead of the decider.

Receiving a massive boost in set number two, Murray was the dominant figure in the decider, dropping five points behind the initial shot and breaking Milos' resistance with two successful return games. Like in the previous two sets, they both served above 70%, but Andy was now in charge on the return, earning a break with a beautiful drop shot in the first game to make a big step towards the title.

Raonic couldn't leave that crucial second set lead behind him, making more and more errors and suffering another break at 3-5 to push Andy over the top. In that ninth game, Raonic saved two match points with winners before Murray converted the third to celebrate the 37th ATP crown and the second in 2016 after Rome.