Andy Murray rallies to claim unlikely win over Grigor Dimitrov in Cincinnati
Friday 21 August 2015 11:16, UK
Andy Murray saved two match points before coming back to beat Grigor Dimitrov and claim a place in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.
The new world No 2 was broken in the very first game of a three-hour encounter and his Bulgarian opponent went on to claim the first set 6-4.
Murray only just managed to drag 16th seed Dimitrov back from a double break in the eighth game of the second set as he came back to win that 7-3 in a tie break.
The Scot struggled to build momentum, however, and although he won the first two games of the deciding set, he then lost the next five.
On the brink of defeat, Murray rallied and showed good character to prevent Dimitrov capitalising on either of his match points at 5-4 down and fought back to claim an unlikely success.
Holding his serve, he then broke his opponent before holding again to seal progression into the last eight with a 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 scoreline.
Murray will now face French No 2 Richard Gasquet - who defeated Marin Cilic 7-5 6-3 in his tie - on Friday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center for a place in the semi-finals.
Either Roger Federer or Spain's Feliciano Lopez would lie in wait at that stage and despite his stuttering win, Murray insists he is ready to face whoever he needs to.
The 28-year-old said: "If you want to win the big competitions, you'll have to come through difficult situations.
"Last year, I didn't come through enough of them. I lost a lot of matches from winning positions and this year I managed to turn that around, which was very positive."
Dimitrov, who has struggled for form lately after splitting with his coach Roger Rasheed and his girlfriend Maria Sharapova, said: "I was happy with the way I played at least, but that's about it.
"I had too many opportunities. That's the only thing. If that you have many and you don't win, that's it. Everything else felt pretty good. The body held up well for three hours, so good things ahead."
You can tune in to watch the Cincinnati Masters on Sky Sports all this week.
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