LONDON: Andy Murray overcame a tough test against China’s Yunchaokete Bu to advance to the quarterfinals at the ATP Challenger Tour 125 event in Surbiton.
The three-time major champion Murray raised his level to oust the Chinese star Yunchaokete 7-6(1), 6-4 in a match that lasted for two hours and 14 minutes.
After the victory, Murray stressed the significance of persevering through challenging circumstances during this year’s opening week of grass-court competition.
“A physical match, quite a lot of long points. I was up 4-2, 40/0 serving [in the first set], and then I had set points at 5-4, the set point at 6-5 as well. It’s good to play tie-breaks and go through tight matches on a different surface,” ATP quoted Murray as saying in his post-match interview.
The World No. 173 Yunchaokete, who revealed on Tuesday that Murray was his childhood hero, displayed glimmers of his top form against the second seed. At 4-2 in the opening set, with Murray leading 40/0, Yunchaokete won nine straight points to tie the match. Murray won the fifth set point he faced, giving him the lead over the native of Xinjiang.
Former World No. 1 Murray then found more rhythm from the baseline to set up a quarter-final meeting against Jason Kubler, who moved past wild card Ryan Peniston 6-3, 7-6(5). (ANI)