Andy Murray continued his return to form on Wednesday at the China Open by reaching his first ATP Tour quarter-final for 12 months.
The former World No. 1, who underwent his second right hip surgery on 28 January, fought hard to beat fellow Briton Cameron Norrie 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 6-1 in two hours and 52 minutes. It is the first time Murray has won two consecutive tour-level matches since his operation.
The 32-year-old, who reached the last eight of an ATP Tour at Shenzhen (l. to Verdasco) in September 2019, will next face top-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem, a contender for a place at the Nitto ATP Finals, or Chinese wild card Zhang Zhizhen on Friday.
Murray, the 2016 Beijing champion, served for the first set at 5-3, but qualifier Norrie regrouped to break back and saved three set points in the tie-break prior to double-faulting at 6/7.
Norrie, 24, took a 5-2 lead in the second set and held a set point at 5-4 on Murray’s serve, but had to dig deep to clinch the tie-break. The decider was one-way traffic, with Murray winning the first five games of the set.
World No. 69 Norrie, who advanced to his first ATP Tour final at the ASB Classic in Auckland (l. to Sandgren) in January, is now 20-22 on the season.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2p97vuH
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