Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Difficult — but Murray advances to quarters
ANDY Murray had to earn his place in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open in Doha after a difficult 7-6 (8/6) 7-5 victory over Gerald Melzer.
The duo shared four breaks of serve in an opening set that was taken to a tie-breaker by the Austrian world No 68 who fought back from 5-0 down to 6-6 in the first-set decider.
The second set was just as frustrating for the world No 1 despite him hitting 10 aces and seeing 78% of his first serves in. However, he edged past the 26-year-old to set up a meeting against Spain’s Nicolas Almagro. Almagro, the world No 44, sealed his place in the last eight with a 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (8/6) success over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
World No 2 Novak Djokovic eased into the next phase with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in just one hour and 13 minutes.
Fernando Verdasco defeated fourth seed David Goffin to advance to the quarter-finals with a 6-1 7-6 (8/6) win over the Belgian, while the evergreen Radek Stepanek was a 6-3 6-2 victor over Arthur De Greef.
Third seed Tomas Berdych won the battle of the Czechs as he triumphed over compatriot Jiri Vesely 7-6 (7/5) 1-6 6-1 in three sets while big-serving Ivo Karlovic defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/3).
BRITAIN’S Kyle Edmund will face world No 4 Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International after both came through their second-round matches.
Edmund progressed when opponent Lucas Pouille retired trailing the Briton 6-3 3-1 while second seed Wawrinka beat Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.
Third seed Kei Nishikori booked his place in the last eight after coming from a set down to beat qualifier Jared Donaldson 4-6 6-4 6-3.
However, eighth seed David Ferrer crashed out of the event following a 4-6 7-5 7-5 defeat at the hands of Australian Jordan Thompson.
IN the Aircel Chennai Open, No 1 seed Marin Cilic fell to a second round defeat to world No 117 Jozef Kovalik by a 7-6 (7/5) 5-7 7-5 scoreline.
JOHANNA Konta is one victory away from her third WTA final after she saw off Kristyna Pliskova with a hardfought win in the Shenzhen Open quarter-finals. Johanna won 6-4 6-7 (13/11) 6-3.