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Murray Survives Another Challenge To Reach Brisbane Quarters
By James Waterson
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Photo Credit: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images
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(January 4, 2012) Top-seeded Andy Murray recovered from another slow start to defeat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0 in the second round of the Brisbane International Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Murray dropped the first set against Mikhail Kukushkin before mounting a come back.
Similar to his previous match, the 24-year-old Scot initially struggled with his serve. Although he lost only two points on his first serve, he won only 22 percent of his second-serve points, which may have been the difference in a set in which both men had one break point.
Murray marginally improved his second serve in the next set and he remained the more composed player in the tiebreaker.
After seizing the momentum, the World No. 4 routed Muller in the third set as he lost only seven points in the tiebreaker.
Murray moves on to face Marcos Baghdatis, who ousted fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4. The Cypriot has proven a tough opponent for the Scot in the past as he's won three of their five previous matches.
Yet Murray won their last encounter, in Tokyo in October, in three sets.
Earlier in the day, eighth-seeded Bernard Tomic reached his first quarterfinal in Brisbane after he dominated 122nd-ranked Tatsuma Ito of Japan 6-1, 6-2.
Tomic slammed 10 aces and won 80 percent of his first-serve points, but he was far less effective on his second serve as he won less than half of those points. Yet that was mitigated by his nearly 70 percent first-serve percentage.
The 19-year-old Australian won nearly 60 percent of his receiving points, which lead to five breaks of serve.
He will face Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan who advanced after his opponent, Tommy Haas, withdrew because of a calf injury before the match.
Second-seeded Gilles Simon dismissed Australia's James Duckworth 6-3, 7-5 and Alexandr Dolgopolov, the third seed, edged Igor Andreev 6-7 (3), 7-6 (9), 6-2.
Dolgopolov will face Radek Stepanek, the sixth seed, in the quarterfinal. Stepanek defeated Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (3), 6-2 to book his spot in the last eight for the first time since October.
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