Andy
Murray of Great Britain reacts after his ATP quarter-final tennis match with
Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, as part of the Dubai Duty Free Championships
on March 2, 2017.<br />KARIM SAHIB / AFP
Andy Murray saved seven match
points to reach the semi-finals of the Dubai Championships with a marathon 6-7
(4/7), 7-6 (20/18), 6-1 win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber on Thursday.
The top seed managed to avoid
joining second seed Stan Wawrinka and seven-time winner Roger Federer on the
sidelines after the Swiss pair crashed out in earlier rounds.
But world number one Murray
needed to scrap for almost three hours against 33-year-old Kohlschreiber, with
the pair duelling in a 30-minute second-set tiebreaker which determined the
final direction of the epic quarter-final.
The Scot held off
Kohlschreiber’s match points, but still needed eight set points to get into the
decider.
Murray will next meet either French seventh seed Lucas Pouille or
Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy, who sensationally eliminated Federer in the
second round.
The British star has never won the Dubai title, but came close in
2012 when he was runner-up to Federer. In the bottom half of the draw, fourth
seed Gael Monfils fired 10 aces but still crashed out 6-3, 7-5 to Fernando
Verdasco.
The French showman was unable to make a major impression in a
match which was paused for almost half an hour in the closing stages due to
light rain.
Spain’s Verdasco will play his second semi-final of the season on
Friday, facing Dutchman Robin Haase, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Bosnian Damir
Dzumhur.
Monfils lost for the first time in four meetings against Verdasco,
with the unseeded Spaniard taking charge from the start. Verdasco spent 35
minutes in winning the opening set and set about consolidating in the second.
The 33-year-old, ranked 35th, broke for 3-2 with Monfils saving
three break points in the seventh game to stay in touch. But Verdasco then
produced a love game for 5-3 just before rain stopped play. The Spaniard
finally prevailed after 81 minutes.
“I played almost a perfect match,” Verdasco said. “I’m very happy,
it was a really complete match in all the ways that you can imagine. “After the
rain delay I tried to be focused, just looking for the next point and trying to
keep doing the same as before the rain. “I’m very happy I’m in the semi-finals
now. I’ll try to recover and get ready for tomorrow.”
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