Murray fights off Kohlschreiber scare
IN-FORM VERDASCO DEFEATS FRENCHMAN MONFILS; TO MEET UNSEEDED HAASE IN TODAY’S SEMI-FINALS
orld 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 yesterday.
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 2422 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 yesterday between Evgeny Donskoy and Lucas Pouille.
Meanwhile, Fernando Verdasco entered the second semi-final of the season to set a meeting with Robin Haase of the Netherlands in the Dubai Tennis Championships on a rain-marred afternoon yesterday.
Verdasco followed up his season-opening Qatar Open semi-final with a second last four entry with an upset 6-3, 7-5 win over fourth seed Gael Monfils, after fellow unseeded Haase had battled his way past Bosnian Damir Dzumhur earlier in the afternoon.
Following the stunning ouster of Roger Federer by Evgeny Donskoy late on Wednesday, the quarter-final line-up had as many as five unseeded players.
Monfils, a former world No. 7 and now outside the top-10 at No. 12, continued his struggle for form as his experienced left-handed Spanish opponent continued dominating from the baseline. Verdasco registered just one break in the second game to race away with the opening set 6-3 in 37 minutes.
With constant rain interruptions — the longest coming deep into the second set — both players struggled to find their rhythm. They had gone in with Verdasco 5-3 ahead and his opponent on serve. But, Monfils turned the match on its head with a break in the tenth to draw level 5-5 and then sent a forehand long to give his Spanish opponent to serve out for set and match 7-5 and complete his first-ever career win over Monfils after four meetings to enter his first semi-final in Dubai.
“I tried to be aggressive and at the same time ensure I didn’t make too many unforced errors as he is one of the best defenders in the game,” Verdasco said.
“In fact it is the win against Roberto [Bautista Agut] that gave me a lot of confidence that I can handle some of the bigger players. I am very happy to be in the Dubai semi-finals for the first time,” he added.
Spanish player