ANDY Murray survived a major scare before seeing off Philipp Kohlschreiber in a gruelling quarter-final of the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
The world number one lost his first set of the tournament and saved seven match points in the second set before recovering to see off the German 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (20/18) 6-1 in little under three hours.
Following a delayed start due to rain, Murray missed several early break points before two double faults in the tiebreak swung the opening set in favour of the world number 29.
Murray recovered quickly, forcing an early break in the second set but was unable to cope with some stunning groundstrokes from Kohlschreiber, who effectively hit the Scot off the court to force a second tie-break.
The 33-year-old missed out on seven match points before Murray snatched a dramatic tiebreak 20-18 after around half an hour as Kohlschreiber hit wide.
Murray coasted through the decisive set with Kohlschreiber unable to maintain his high standard, with the top seed breaking early to establish control before sealing a place in the semi-finals.
mfl Murray admitted he had not seen anything like the marathon second-set tiebreak.
"It's obviously a special match to win because of how it went," he told atpworldtour.com. "I'll probably never play another tie-break like that again. I have been playing on the tour for 11, 12 years now, and nothing's been close to that.
"There were definitely some unbelievable points in that second set tie-break, but in general I think the level was extremely high. He was hitting the ball so hard tonight from both sides. Any time he had the opportunity, he was ripping the ball and made it really, really tough."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here