By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Andy Murray defeated French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the Monte Carlo round of 16 for the sixth time.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Andy Murray turned his opening Monte Carlo match into a group therapy session today.
Barking at his box between points, haranguing chair umpire Carlos Bernardes during some changeovers and berating himself on occasion after errors, Murray gave his mouth almost as much of a workout as his legs.
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Murray thrived on talking points and winning the crucial points in the final set.
The second seed survived a sloppy second set and the attacking game of French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the round of 16 for the sixth time.
The reigning Madrid champion will face either 16th-seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire or Joao Sousa for a quarterfinal spot.
Murray took charge at the start in cruising through the first set. The Scot began to lose the depth on his forehand in the second set. Herbert hit some timely drop shots to frustrate the Australian Open finalist. Playing cleaner tennis the Frenchman's 14 winners matched Murray's 14 errors as he snatched the 45-minute second set to level.
A chatty Murray regained his focus, carving out a fine backhand drop volley breaking at love for 3-1.
Withstanding a near eight-minute game, Murray thumped an ace to consolidate for 4-1.
Still barking at his box and muttering to himself in frustration between points, Murray faced a break point in the seventh game. He swatted an ace out wide to save it and never looked back raising his record to 11-3 on the season.
Murray has not won back-to-back tournament matches since the Australian Open and will play for his first Monte Carlo quarterfinal in four years next.
Pablo Cuevas denied seven of nine break points edging Spanish qualifier Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (2), 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), in a three hour, 20-minute thriller. Cuevas' reward is a date with 10th-seeded Milos Raonic, who won their lone prior meeting on the clay of Oeiras two years ago.
Gilles Simon swept Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 6-3, avenging a Brisbane loss to the Bulgarian in January and raising his record to 5-1 against the former Wimbledon semifinalist.
The 15th-seeded Frenchman will face either fourth-seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka or Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Borna Coric, next.
Joao Sousa saved all five break points he faced downsizing Ivo Karlovic, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Sousa will play Paire for the right to meet Murray in the round of 16.