Andy Murray advanced to the BOSS Open semi-finals in Stuttgart after impressively overcoming world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(4) 6-3 in a commanding display.
It was a gripping encounter between the pair and Murray showed signs he could make a surge up the rankings again after dumping out the tournament’s top seed.
The 35-year old came into the match following a 6-3 7-6 win over Alexander Bublik in the previous round, after knocking out Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell.
This was to be a challenge on another level though, one which he passed with flying colours to set up a clash with Nick Kyrgios.
Tsitsipas served to start the match and won the first game to love. Murray battled back to win his service game from love-30 down. From that point, both were serving superbly and so the set inevitably went to a tie-break with no breaks of serve.
There were only two break points in the set, one for each player that were both saved. The tie-break stayed on serve until Murray got the first break point and had two serves to win the set – he aced the first and a long lob from Tsitsipas on the second helped the Scot clinch the set.
Murray served at the start of the second set to take the opening game and the match stayed with serve, allowing him to lead 3-2. In the sixth game, he broke the Greek’s serve with a fantastic backhand shot to take advantage of the break point.
The former world No. 1 stretched his lead further by holding his serve in the next game to move 5-2 in front.
Murray had two match points on the Tsitsipas serve, only to squander both. The Brit had the chance to take the match on his serve, which he duly did with a beautiful forehand down the line to secure his first win over a player ranked in the top five in the world since 2016.
“It was an amazing atmosphere and almost a full crowd,” Murray said after the match in his on-court interview. “There was beautiful weather today, and really nice conditions to play tennis. I thought I did well. He served unbelievably in the first set.
“I felt like I had very few chances, but when he was creating chances on my serve, I stayed strong. I played a really solid tie-break and in the second set, once I was in the rallies, I felt like I was dictating a lot of the points. It was a good performance.”
He will now face Kyrgios in Saturday’s semi-finals after he beat Marton Fucsovics. The Australian was leading 7-6(3) 3-0 when Fucsovics retired after receiving treatment on court for an issue with his back.
