Monte Carlo: Andy Murray fought though a roller-coaster finish to squeeze into the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday, posting a narrow 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 win over Benoit Paire.
The second-seeded Scotsman will take on the big serve of Milos Raonic in a Friday quarter-final after the Canadian defeated Bosnian Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5).
Murray made a recovery from a set and two breaks down in the second set as he turned the tide in stuttering fashion against the Frenchman, who admitted this week that his tennis is plagued by doubts and a serious case of nerves.
He proved that point by double-faulting for the eighth time on a Murray match point to end the struggle after more than two and a half hours.
Murray stands 5-4 over Raonic, and defeated the Canadian in an Australian Open semi-final in January.
“It was an unpredictable match,” Murray said. “He’s very talented, I had to keep fighting in the second set.
“We both had our opportunities but I played just that little bit more solid at the end.”
Paire ended with 52 unforced errors and 47 winners as he and Murray faced off for the first time.
Murray is under pressure this clay season, with title defences in both Munich and Madrid fast approaching.
The 28-year-old has shown only modest results so far in 2016, a season interrupted for almost a month by the birth of his daughter in February only a few days after losing the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic.
Murray remains the highest seed in contention this week in the Principality after Djokovic was knocked out in his opening match by Czech Jiri Vesely.
Murray, a 2009 and 2011 semi-finalist, is into his third quarter-final of the season. He has now won his last 11 matches against Frenchmen since losing to Gilles Simon in Rotterdam quarters in February, 2015.
Djokovic lost only his second match of the season as he fell to Vesely 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to exit the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
“This is proof that nobody’s unbeatable. It happens so many times in my career that I lose a match. It’s not a first time,” Djokovic said. “It’s not easy to lose the match and accept it right after exiting the court.
“But I have to congratulate my opponent. I think he played very solid.
“He was serving very big. He was playing tactically good and aggressive.
“There are a very few things I could take out from today’s match as a positive — I was playing really, really bad.”
The second round loss in just over two hours, Djokovic’s opening match of the tournament, nonetheless left the Serbian with an impressive 28-2 win-loss record in 2016. He was also beaten when he had to quit a Dubai quarter-final two months ago with an eye infection.
The reigning champion had not lost in 22 Masters 1000 matches since going down in the 2015 Cincinnati final and had won his last 14 matches on the ATP circuit heading into this week.
He last went out in an opening match three years ago in Madrid when he was beaten in the second round by Grigor Dimitrov.
“It’s disappointing to lose the first match playing at home in a way,” Djokovic said. “I practise here in these courts.
“I’ve lived here for the last eight, nine years. It’s definitely not something that I wished and not something that I wanted. But in sport you’ve got to accept it.
“Time off will serve me well — mentally mostly. It’s been a tough four or five months. I need time to kind of recharge.”
— AFP
