Murray, on his comeback from five months out after hip surgery, through to Sunday's final alongside Lopez
Sunday 23 June 2019 07:52, UK
Comeback king Andy Murray and marathon man Feliciano Lopez made it through to the Queen's Club doubles final on Saturday.
After reaching the singles final of the Fever-Tree Championships, Lopez took a break of precisely 12 minutes before he walked back onto court with Murray to finish their quarter-final against British duo Dan Evans and Ken Skupski.
Fading light had seen play halted the previous evening with Murray and Lopez having taken the first set 6-4 and on serve at 4-5 in the second.
Lopez held serve to level the set, and Skupski and Murray followed suit to take it into a tie-break. A swashbuckling Murray backhand from the baseline put them 5-2 up and the Scot wrapped up a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory with a smash.
Lopez and Murray opted to stay on court, waiting for reigning Queen's champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers.
Having taken the first set, a stunning Murray forehand out wide secured a break towards the end of the second.
But the 32-year-old two-time Wimbledon champion promptly dropped his serve to take it to a tie-break, which Kontinen and Peers won to level the match.
However, in the subsequent match tie-break, Murray and a presumably exhausted Lopez staggered over the line to win 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 10-7.
Asked whether he has surprised himself on his comeback, Murray, said: "I didn't know what to expect, and obviously I had tough, tough draw, as well, playing the top seeds in the first match and [having] never played with Feliciano before. I didn't have high expectations at all.
"I think things have probably got a little bit better maybe with each match, as well. Definitely on the return side of things, that's probably the thing I was most happy with today. And I didn't expect to be playing in the final, no, that's for sure."
They will meet Rajeev Ram and Britain's Joe Salisbury in the final on Sunday.
