Filed under: Tennis
Andy Murray proved too strong for number 14 seed Janko Tipsarevic as he marched into the last eight of the Aegon Championships at Queen's.Murray had lost three of his six previous meetings with the Serb, including their only one on grass, at Queen's five years ago, and the most recent one, in Dubai last year.
But he came through 6-4 7-6 and will now play either Marin Cilic, the number eight seed from Croatia, or the Brazilian left-hander Tomaz Bellucci, who is seeded 11.
Murray had been fretting about the ankle he damaged last week in the French Open but came through against a stubborn and dangerous opponent without mishap.
The Serb, who loves to play in sunglasses, won the toss and elected to receive in the hope Murray would make a stodgy start.
And so it proved as the Scot was broken straight away and soon found himself 3-1 down as tennis fan Pippa Middleton watched from the stands and ominous grey clouds gathered overhead.
Tipsarevic, who helped his nation win the Davis Cup last year, looked ultra-confident as well as cool in his thick-rimmed, blue shades.
But he wasn't so happy in the sixth game when a double fault gave Murray three break points and the Scot accepted the second via a fortunate bounce off the top of the net.
That made it 3-3 and Murray followed that up with a powerful service game to lead for the first time in the match.
Tipsaveric, ranked 31 in the world, was undaunted however and made Murray work for a 5-4 lead before the heavens opened and the contest was halted.
The disruption proved to be to Murray's advantage as returned to break the Serb to claim the first set 6-4.
The world number four soon looked ill at ease as the second set progressed however as Tipsaveric broke Murray immediately again and then moved swiftly to 2-0.
A response was needed from the number two seed and although he won his next service game impressively there was a brief scare when the man with the heavily-strapped ankle slipped on the greasy grass while losing the next.
Murray needed a break point and got one when a Tipsarevic referral went against him but that disappeared when another review went in the Serb's favour straight after.
Tipsarevic held that game after an epic exchange to lead 4-2 but the Serb wasted his penultimate referral two games later and Murray was back level again within seconds having finally hunted down that elusive break.
Murray scented that a straight sets victory was suddenly there for the taking and held serve with his tenth ace of the match to lead 5-4 and pile pressure on his opponent.
A careless forehand into the net gave Murray an opening at 15-30 but the Serb held his nerve to hold when Hawkeye called a winner from the Scot out.
Tipsarevic was not amused when the technology failed to spot a Murray serve flicking the top of the net and a rocket from the Scot sealed that game.
For the second time, the Serb had to hold serve to save the match and did so despite Murray winning the first two points impressively.
Murray began the tie-breaker with another ace and then played the shot of the match across court to go 5-1 up. Tipsarevic replied with one that was arguably as good but Murray soon had three match points at his disposal and needed just one to clinch victory with a fine cross-court backhand.
REACTION:
Murray was pleased to have made a match-winning recovery in the second set.
"The first set was a little bit patchy and the rain break didn't really help as it was tricky conditions but it was a good standard from both of us and I managed to turn it bround after going a break down."
And the Scot was happy his Wimbledon preparations were going smoothly.
"I only had one day practice so I haven't been working on too many things. I'm just getting used to having the grass under my feet. I feel I have moved pretty well but I can still get better. I was hitting the ball from the back of the court much cleaner compared to the first game."
Queen's is one of his favourite venues because it takes the pressure off.
"I have always enjoyed it here because it doesn't feel like a big tournament. It's quite relaxed because it's a club and all the members come out to watch."
Murray revealed he was most pleased with his serving.
"The second serve is the most important thing. Today it was much better. I was going for it a lot more than I did in the first game. That takes the pressure off the first serve as then you feel you can really go for it all the time. He wasn't able to attack my first serve very much in the second set and that's something I will have to keep up."
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