“It's a little strange not knowing who you're playing,” Kevin Anderson told the assembled media after reaching a maiden final at The Queen’s Club with the 199th victory of his career.
The South African stamped his name on the final column of the drawsheet with an impressive 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 upset win over No.7 seed Gilles Simon, but as he drifts off to sleep on the eve of the final he will do so with both Andy Murray and Viktor Troicki flickering through his thoughts.
On a downright gloomy day in West Kensington, Murray and Troicki took to court for the second semi-final under dark skies. The duo managed to contest just six games before the weather brought a halt to proceedings, but the 33 minutes of play weren’t without incident. On the final point of the day Troicki landed awkwardly and lumbered off clutching his shoulder with Murray holding a break point – his sixth of the match – at 3-3, 30-40.
The Brit and the Serb will be back out on court at 11:00am tomorrow with Anderson awaiting the winner in a final that is scheduled for no earlier than 2:25pm.
“I can't really let that affect my preparations,” said Anderson on his unidentified opponent. “I will sort of treat it like a normal match.
“[Andy’s] proved himself time and time again to be one of the best players in the last decade, really. The way he moves, the way he returns, especially on the grass, he's obviously put up some amazing results. You know, it's tough, because I feel like he gives me the opportunity to play a little bit, but he just counter‑punches so well. He just gets so many balls back.
“If it is him, obviously not sure yet, but I definitely have my work cut out for me.”
Anderson added: “[Viktor’s] had some very good grass results. Obviously making the finals last week [in Stuttgart]. Beating Isner here. I thought that was a great match. So, you know, if it is him, I'm going to have to play well. He has a great serve, he returns well, he's quite crafty.”
Anderson's win over Simon was his second top 20 victory of the week. He also overcame Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round.
One of the keys to the 29-year-old's success this week has been the pinpoint accuracy on his ferocious serve. He has fired down 96 aces in his four matches, while holding in 55 of his 56 service games. In his lastest victory, Anderson hit 34 serves past Simon to set a new personal record in best-of-three set matches.
The world No.17 is the first player from his country to reach the final at Queen’s Club since Wayne Ferreira advanced to back-to-back finals here in 1992 and 1993, winning the former and falling in the latter.
“You know, I sort of grew up watching Wayne Ferreira,” said Anderson. “I remember him winning the title here. Definitely he was the influence when I was growing up. I remember going and watching him play a few times.
“This is a tournament I remember watching at a very young age. I didn't really understand how the tour worked. Everybody knew Queen's, though, is the week before Wimbledon and you had the best players in the world playing it.
“To be in the finals myself feels great, and, you know, it's going to be a very big match for me tomorrow.”
