Dubai: World number one Andy Murray proved why exactly he is in that exalted position of men’s tennis as he clawed his way past gritty German opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (4), 7-6 (18), 6-1 and confirm a semi-final spot at the Dubai Tennis Championships late on Thursday.
Down and nearly out, the top seed – who is chasing his first-ever Dubai crown – saved seven match points to win in an entertaining tie-breaker 20-18 and draw level against his German opponent. The tie-breaker – among the longest in modern day men’s tennis – lasted a little over 31 minutes.
Aki Rahunen had won a 24-22 first set tie-break against Peter Nyborg in their first round qualifying of the 1992 Copenhagen Open to record the longest tie-breaker so far.
But once the second set was wrapped up, the world number one was unstoppable as he maintained his composure before a near-packed weekend crowd to win 6-1 registering breaks in the fourth and sixth games.
Murray will now await the winner of the fourth and final quarter-finals scheduled to be played later on Thursday between Evgeny Donskoy and Lucas Pouille.
ORDER OF PLAY for Friday
Centre Court (Start at 2.30 pm)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/Leander Paes vs Rohan Bopanna/Marcin Matkowski.
(Not before 5 pm)
Fernando Verdasco vs Robin Haase
(Not before 7 pm)
Andy Murray vs Evgeny Donskoy OR Lucas Pouille;
Henri Kontinen/John Peers vs Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau OR Philipp Kohlschreiber/Florian Mayer.
