World No. 1 Andy Murray had to dig deep as he saved seven match points before beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarters of the Dubai Championships on Saturday. The Wimbledon champion needed eight set points to edge the German 20-18 in the second set tie-break that lasted for 31 minutes to level the match. Murray then showed his class in the third to win 6-7 (4), 7-6 (18), 6-1.
Murray, who said he had “never played a tie-break like that in my life”, will face No. 7 seed Lucas Pouille in the last four on Friday. The Frenchman beat Roger Federer’s conqueror Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2).
“I’ve never played a tie-break like that ever, not in juniors, nothing has been close to that,” said Murray. “I’ll probably never play another one like that again. I’ve been playing on the tour for 11, 12 years now and nothing, nothing’s been close to that.”
Such was the intensity of the match that both players forgot to change ends during the epic second set tiebreak. In a tiebreak players must change ends every six points, but Murray, Kohlschreiber and the umpire forgot to do so at 15-15. Murray said, “I realised at 16-16, the umpire said he forgot and the machine did not recognise it, I do not know if the machines are made to go that high, it doesn’t happen every often.”
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!