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Andy battles into Madrid Quarters...
Andy survived a scare to progress to the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open with a 2-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) victory over Gilles Simon.
Andy started the match slowly as he dropped his opening service game. He was also broken in his third service game as Simon cruised into a comfortable lead and easily saw out the first set.
Andy’s woes continued as Simon again broke in the first service game of the second set. However this time Andy responded, breaking back to level at 2-2 before holding his serve to go ahead in the second set for the first time.
Andy had the momentum at the start of the third and a strong offence in the second game saw the British No 1 gain an early break and surge into a 2-0 lead. The set then went with serve until the 12th game, where Murray struck on his fifth set point to break Simon and take the contest into a decider. Despite the numerous match points, Simon fought back, breaking in the fifth game and the Frenchman just about held firm for the rest of the set to take things into a tie-break, where his resistance was finally broken, and Andy closed out the set 8-6 in the tie break.
Speaking after the match Andy said “It’s very different playing in the evening, the ball doesn’t bounce particularly high. He was taking my time away and hitting close to the lines and making it very difficult. I managed to turn it around. I probably could have finished the third a bit quicker if I had taken some of my chances but he fought.”