Tie fighter Murray forces way into Dubai semi
ANDY MURRAY admitted he’d seen nothing like his tie-break thriller as he survived a scare to see off Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Dubai Championships.
The world No.1 lost his first set of the tournament and saved seven match points in the second set before recovering to win 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (20/18) 6-1 in little under three hours.
But the Scot revealed he’d never been involved in anything like a 38-point breaker and reckons it’s unlikely he will be again as he battled into a semi-final against Lucas Pouille.
He said: “It’s a special match to win because of how it went – I’ll probably never play another tiebreak like that.
“I’ve been playing on the tour for 11, 12 years now and nothing’s been close to that. There were some unbelievable points but in general the level was extremely high.
“He was hitting the ball so hard tonight from both sides. Any time he had the opportunity he was ripping the ball and made it really, really tough.”
Following a delayed start due to rain Murray missed several early break points before two double faults in the tiebreak swung the opening set in favour of the world No. 29.
Murray recovered, forcing an early break in the second set but was unable to cope with some stunning groundstrokes from Kohlschreiber, who effectively hit the Scot off the court to force a second tie-break.
The 33-year-old missed out on seven match points before Murray snatched a dramatic tiebreak 20-18 after around half an hour as Kohlschreiber hit wide.
Murray coasted through the decisive set with the top seed breaking early before sealing the win.
Frenchman Pouille booked his last-four spot by coming through a tiebreak of his own in a 6-4 5-7 7-6 (7/2) win against Russian Evgeny Donskoy.
Fernando Verdasco and Robin Haase compete in the other clash.