World No. 1 Andy Murray battled past Gerald Melzer to secure a spot in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open quarter-finals. The Scot needed two hours and 23 minutes to overcome the Austrian’s effort, 7-6(6), 7-5 on Wednesday.
“It was a really good match. I was happy with how I handled it. It wasn't easy because I was having to do a lot of defending and I wasn't able to impose myself as I would've liked because he was taking huge cuts every time he had the opportunity,” Murray said. “But the positive was in the important moments I stayed strong. I served pretty well when I needed to. I moved really well tonight, which is huge part of my game. So to be moving like that this early in the season is really positive.”
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Melzer proved strong from the start of the first set, breaking Murray for a 2-1 lead. The two-time champion went on to break right back and, after the pair traded breaks again, Murray went on to capture the first set 8-6 in the tie-break after 78 minutes. Murray serving, Melzer saved two match points at 4-5 in the second set before breaking the Dunblane native and extending the clash. Nicolas Almagro will be Murray’s opponent in the last eight. The top seed leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-1.
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Elsewhere, third seed Tomas Berdych topped Czech compatriot Jiri Vesely 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals. The World No. 10 fired 13 aces and capitalised on both of his break point chances to capture the win in one hour and 45 minutes. Berdych next faces fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who dropped only six points on serve (33/39) to beat Dustin Brown 6-1, 6-3.
In doubles, top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares prevailed 7-5, 4-6, 10-4 over David Marrero and Nenad Zimonjic to reach the semi-finals. They next play Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin, who were 6-3, 6-7(5), 10-7 winners over fourth seeds Dominic Inglot and Florin Mergea.
Third seeds Vasek Pospisil and Radek Stepanek also advanced to the last four with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Robin Haase and Philipp Petzschner.