Exhausted Andy Murray battled into a singles quarter-final for the first time in a year on
Wednesday -- and then immediately grabbed a꧒ snooze.
The former world number one outlasted fellow Briton Cameron Norrie 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (4/7), 6
-1 over nearly three ෴gruelling hours in hot and hazy Beijing.
The 32-year-old, now ranked a lowly 503, will play top seed Dominiꦇc Thiem in the last eight of the China Open on Friday.
On t♍he mend after a career-saving hip operation in January, Murray looked all in afterwards, and walked gingeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚrly in and out of the post-match press conference.
Blowing out his cheeks several times, the three-time Grand Slam champion said he had
slept in the 90 minutes between his🌊 victory and talking to reporte🌱rs.
"I'm🤪 tired, I just had a sleep before comin⭕g. I mean, I'm really tired," he said.
T⛎o save his creaking body from more punishment, Murr🎀ay said that he switched tactics in the deciding third set.
"I decided if I want to win I have to go and take risk🧔s and come to the net, try and finish the points quicker, which I did," he said.
Murray defeated US Open semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday for his bigg🌠est scalp since h🥀is return to singles tennis in mid-August.
The hard-fought triumph over 69th-ranked Norrie means he reaches the last eight in singles on the ATP Tour for the first time since Shenzhen in Septem🍎ber last year.
Murray showed several flashes of irritation as the first set went to the tie break, chuntering
away in the direction of his coaching tea🙈m courtside.
But he regained his composure and captured the set thanks to an untimely double fault by
his compatriot.
The 24-year-old Norrie broke Murray's serve in the sixth game of the second set and Murray
was struggling, bending over between points with his h꧒ands on his knees to catch his breath.
He shook his head as🐻 he slumped red-faced in his seat at 5-2 down.
He displayed the battling qualities which took him to number one in 2016 to somehow surge
back, only to lose t🌟he second set on ꦗthe tie break.
But he wrestled back the initiative in the decider, breaking Norrie's first service game on
the way to a trademark gritty victory.
Also into the quarter-finals was Russian fourth seed Karen Khachanov, a 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (7/5)
winner over France's Jeremy Chardy. He faces the Italian Fabio Foಞgnini.
'Frustrated' Barty Advances
In the women's draw, wor🥂ld number one Asꦜhleigh Barty will face Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals.
The top-ranked Australian, 23, beat home hope Zheng Saisai 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, but was
unhappy to have been forced to three sets.
"I think I was pretty loose, I played a pretty stu💃pid (second) set," said Barty.
"I made far to🍃o many errors, let her back in the match well and truly.
"I think too many times I gave away cheap service games... when I did have my opportunity, I didn't 𝐆take it.
"A bit of a frustrating one."
Teenage US Open champion Bianca Andreescu reached the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5)
victory over Belgium's unseeded Elise Mertens.
𒁃Andreescu meets Jennifer Brady of t🎐he United States.
(AFP)
