Sunday 28 September 2014 16:59, UK
Andy Murray saved five match points as he came from behind to win his first title of 2014 in the ATP Shenzhen Open on Sunday.
The British No 1 beat Tommy Robredo 5-7 7-6 (11-9) 6-1 to record his first tournament triumph since Wimbledon last year.
However, he looked on the brink of defeat, facing five match points in the second set tie-break, four of them in succession from 6-2 behind, but he saved them and then pushed on to win.
Spaniard Robredo could barely walk to the net come the end of a gruelling match played in intense heat in southern China, with Murray's remarkable levels of fitness having been richly rewarded.
The win also boosts Murray's bid to qualify for November's ATP World Tour Finals.
Murray will be relieved and no doubt proud to have secured his first silverware since parting ways with Ivan Lendl before the French Open and pairing up with French coach Amelie Mauresmo in June. Theirs has been a combination which has come under a close scrutiny which should be eased by this achievement.
The Scot had capped a glorious 12 months with his Wimbledon triumph in July 2013, which came in the wake of Olympic gold and the US Open title, but back surgery later in the year ended his season early.
He returned to the tour at the start of this year, struggling to come close to the form that enabled him to end Britain's 77-year wait for a men's singles champion at the All England Club.
A semi-final run at the French Open hinted at the 27-year-old running into peak form in time for Wimbledon, but a quarter-final thrashing by Grigor Dimitrov told otherwise.
Sunday's Shenzhen title match was Murray's first final of an uncharacteristically fallow year to date, and it looked like being anticlimactic for his followers when Robredo moved to the brink of victory. Yet the result told a wholly different story, the manner of his victory offering fresh reassurance that Murray is lacking nothing in determination to get back to the top of the sport.
Murray had entered the modest ATP 250 tier event because of his impatience to experience the thrill of winning a tournament, and to strengthen his prospects of qualifying for the end-of-year Tour Finals in London.
Next week he will be in Beijing, for the China Open, before competing in Masters 1000 events in Shanghai and Paris in October, where big points and big money come into play.
After he and Robredo pair traded early breaks in the opening set, Murray staved off another in the ninth game with a potent forehand.
But there was no escape from love-40 in Murray's next service game, at 5-5. Murray saved the first break point but Robredo then thrashed back a weak serve and all the Scot could do was paddle it into the sidelines. Soon the set was gone.
Murray broke for a 4-2 lead in the second set but was pegged back immediately by the world No 22. With Robredo serving at 5-4 behind, Murray earned two set points but could take neither.
That looked to be his big chance, especially once Robredo surged ahead in the tie-break.
Murray found some sparkling form when the match points arrived for his opponent, but then gifted Robredo a fifth chance by netting a forehand. Murray clenched his fist as he saved that too, and a backhand behind the Spaniard gave the 27-year-old his first set point of the tie-break.
Robredo staved that off though, and another set point, before Murray gunned down a brilliant forehand that brought up a third, one which he took.
The Herculean effort was backed up by Murray as he broke serve at the start of the third set, and from then on, with Robredo suffering, the outcome was never in doubt.
