16/06/2013

Murray v Cilic in final, Rally Against Cancer set to begin

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The Aegon Championships final will feature two-time winner Andy Murray against  defending champion Marin Cilic on Sunday, with Murray then set to join up with Tim Henman and a host of celebrities in Rally Against Cancer.

The singles final has been brought forward to 12 noon to guard against bad weather, and Murray will try to win a hat-trick of titles, his third in an odd year after wins in 2009 and 2011.

Cilic will try to become the first player to successfully defend the title since Andy Roddick won his third title in a row in 2005.

After the final, Murray and Henman will take on Tomas Berdych and Ivan Lendl in the Rally Against Cancer charity doubles match. They will then be joined by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, comedians Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr and Jonathan Ross, and Sir Richard Branson and Eddie Redmayne, to continue the action.

The Rally Against Cancer will raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. The charity supports The Royal Marsden, the world-leading cancer centre treating British tennis player Ross Hutchins. Donations can be made by going at www.justgiving.com/RallyAgainstCancer2013 

On Saturday, after a few hours of interruptions because of the weather, Hewitt and Cilic took to the Centre Court but could manage only two games before being forced off by the rain again. 

At that point, with only three and a half hours of light remaining and rain still threatening, the tournament made the decision to move the Hewitt vs. Cilic match to Court One, and put Murray vs. Tsonga on Centre Court. The decision enabled both matches to be played, ensuring the tournament is on schedule going into the final day. 

"We wanted to play both semi-finals on Centre Court, as scheduled, if at all possible, to give our ticket-holders the best possible chance to see both matches," said a Tournament spokesperson.

"Once the weather interruptions delayed us to a point where we felt we had insufficient light to complete them both on the same court, we opted to move one of them.

"It was a difficult call to decide which of the two matches should move to court one as the crowd wanted to see both matches and Hewitt vs. Cilic had already started, but we adjudged that Murray vs. Tsonga, with a British player involved and given the respective rankings of the four players, would attract the bigger crowd.

"Given that Centre Court holds 7,091 spectators, and Court One 1,031, we therefore made the decision to play Cilic and Hewitt on Court One. It is understandable, after a frustrating day of weather, that our spectators and television viewers would wonder why we couldn’t play as soon as the rain had stopped and the sun had come out, but the health and safety of the players is our first consideration in situations like this.

"When the decision to move the court was made, both Murray and Tsonga were still expecting to go on court after Cilic vs. Hewitt, we were in the middle of a rain break, and it was only 2-0 in the first set to Cilic at the time. With that in mind, they weren’t ready to play yet, and needed to prepare. The players got ready as soon as they could, and we got them out on to the court as soon as we could after that."

The doubles final, featuring the top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan vs. Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares, will take place at 2pm on Court One. Tickets for the doubles final will be available separately on the gate for £10, and free for under-16's (accompanied by an adult). Gates will open at 10.30am (BST) as previously advertised.

The singles final and the Rally Against Cancer matches will be screened live on BBC 1. Eurosport will also screen the the singles final live, and the Rally Against Cancer match tape-delayed.

Highlights of Andy Murray v Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals of the men's singles

Highlights of Marin Cilic v Lleyton Hewitt in the semi-finals of the men's singles