Murray dispatches Germany's world no 29 after losing opening set
Friday 3 March 2017 11:29, UK
Andy Murray remains on course for a maiden title at the Dubai Tennis Championships, but had to save seven match points before beating Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Murray had won the last four meetings between the pair and prevailed once again, but he had to come from a set down on this occasion, and the turning point of the match was a remarkable 31-minute second set tie-break which the World No 1 eventually won 20-18.
That set took 84 minutes in total but Murray then powered through the decider to complete a 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (20-18) 6-1 victory.
Showing all the tenacity and skill that has taken him to three Grand Slam titles and the world No 1 ranking, Murray managed to counter some astonishing shot-making from the veteran German.
But Kohlschreiber will look back at several missed opportunities, particularly in the second set at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre while Murray goes on to face France's Lucas Pouille, the only other seed remaining in the tournament, in the last four.
The seventh seed beat Roger Federer's conqueror Evgeny Donskoy in three sets to advance to Friday's semi=-final showdown.
Having taken 79 and 72 minutes in his first two matches against Malek Jaziri and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Murray was given a much tougher work-out by the 33-year-old, who took the first set in exactly an hour.
With both men serving strongly, all three break points in the first set were saved, and it was Kohlschreiber who struck in the tie-break, recovering from a mini-break down to seal the opener with an ace.
Murray, playing in his first tournament since a fourth-round defeat at the Australian Open last month, fought back to claim the second set but only after Kohlschreiber broke for the first time himself to level when Murray served at 5-4.
The German then produced an epic hold to lead 6-5 forcing Murray to serve to stay in the match, which he did, setting the stage for the tie-break drama.
Kohlschreiber fought off two set points before Murray saved a first match point thanks a a quite extraordinary cross-court, drop-shot sliced winner, a barely believable shot that defied physics and left the crowd awe-struck.
The tie-break see-sawed both ways with set points, match points and missed opportunities, before Kohlschreiber's unforced error handed Murray the set and levelled the match.
Both players held serve to start set three but Murray then took complete control of proceedings, reeling off the final five games to set up a semi-final against Lucas Pouille of France, who beat Roger Federer's conqueror Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 5-7 7-6.
Murray said: "It was very rewarding to come through a match like that and obviously I'm very pleased to get through it.
"I would have been very disappointed if I'd lost the second set but, also, I didn't feel like I was playing badly.
"I played a poor tie-break in the first set but, apart from that, I felt I was playing pretty well and he was playing really good stuff."
The dramatic second set equalled five other 20-18 tiebreaks recorded since tie-break scores were first kept in 1991 and such was the drama that Murray and Kohlschreiber forgot to change ends at 15-15, instead changing at 16-16.
"I've never played a tie-break that long ever," Murray added. "Not in juniors, nothing even close to that. I'll probably never play another one like that again.
"I've have been playing on the tour for 11, 12 years now, and nothing's been close to that."
In the bottom half of the draw, Spain's Fernando Verdasco will take on Robin Haase for a place in the final after the pair came through a section that saw all four seeds dispatched.
Stan Wawrinka, Roberto Bautista Agut and Tomas Berdych were joined by fourth seed Gael Monfils on Thursday after the Frenchman was beaten by world number 35 Verdasco.
The veteran left-hander beat the Frenchman 6-3 7-5, while Dutch world number 66 Haase reached the first ATP 500 semi-final of his career by overcoming Damir Dzumhur 6-2 4-6 6-4.
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