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[Mark]

Andy Murray has made it through to the last eight of the Brisbane International after squeezing past Gilles Muller in a difficult encounter.

The Scot lost the first set but managed to recover to take the match 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-0.

Murray will now face Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals.

[michelle]

Good to see Andy keeping his cool and winning with a bagel. He will only get better. Thought he moved well.
Re the three in his box at the open, he said somewhere yesterday that Darren was going to stay around as this was the first time Ivan Lendl would have been a coach, so Darren would help him. A good idea I thought, can only help the transition.

[Aileen]

I only watched from the middle of the 2nd set.  Even that was quite a nailbiter!  Andy did well to keep his cool and his nerve to take the tiebreak.  After that he just went from strength to strength and Muller simply lost belief.  He said after the match, according to one of the ANDY boys (Shane, the Y), that he was a bit rusty through not having played much tennis since October.  So all the more power to him!

[blueberryhill]

Mullerlight in the end...

[lashurst]

Nice to see Andy warming up well. Marcos will be no push-over though- he's given Andy trouble before.

Good luck Andy mi'lad

Not forgetting the Murray-Baggy dubs!
 
Good luck to Jamie too

[Aileen]

Things I didn't like about Andy's match today:

- His movement
- His second serve
- The gawd-awful outfit.. (that orange cuff at the bottom of his shorts to match the orange t-shirt... my son wore a similar outfit at 3 yrs old)
- His facial grimace when things aren't going well (sorry Andy.. you ain't foolin' me... that ain't no 'smile' and it makes me nervous).
- Getting up at 05:30am to watch!

Things I liked:
- His 1st serve
- His level of fitness
- His determination
- I found a decent livestream

I loved to see him get the bagel again against Muller, but I felt it came down more to the disparity of fitness between them.  I didn't hear any wolf-whistles when Giles took his shirt off (unlike the attention Andy got the other day!). I think Muller had some amazing shots but just ran out of gas in the tank, more than Andy playing better.
Oh well... a win's a win... and on we go..
I'm just hoping there's no underlying problem because, to me anyway, he just didn't look to be moving that well.
I hope I'm wrong.

Lucky you - my livestream was rubbish.  What was yours?

Agree with your post in general but have to disagree with you about Muller.  I felt Andy really got near the top of his game by the 3rd set and Muller simply had no answer so just gave up mentally, although I accept that the level of fitness between the two possibly played a part.

Andy does seem to have been having problems with his dodgy right knee, but he claims it'll get less painful the more matches he plays (don't quite understand that though, but then I don't totally understand that condition, whereas he does and so does his physio).  Also he's bound to be match rusty having played so little competitive tennis since October.  Anyway, I came across this quote in an Aussie newspaper from Andy after this match -

I felt like I moved better in the second and third sets. It's such a huge part of my game. When I'm moving well I feel more confident. In the first set, I was still not moving as I would have liked. That needs to get better,” Murray said.

“I want to be feeling 100 per cent on Monday in 10 days. That's the goal. With each match, your body is going to feel better. Towards the end of the second set I ran down some good balls and that's what I need just now. I was happy with that. It's been a good start.”

Another report say he's keen to get as many matches as possible under his belt before the AO, so I'm wondering if he might request an exhibition match or two next week, as he's done the last two years, provided of course that the knee doesn't actually get worse.

[OldScotSupport]

I don't know if I'm reading the correct reviews of Andy's opening matches. You read the "world" press and it is not the rosey picture I see here....all "rainbows, cotton candy and lollipops"! What's really going on someone help me please? He's playing a tournament with no one esle in the top ten, 2 in the top 20, and everyone else in the 30s and 40s or worst. Come on, if Andy can't slam dunk this event, we've got a problem. 

I believe you are reading the fortune glass correctly.

However, looking at it from Andy's point of view. After the injuries forced his withdrawals from y/e tournaments, he probably needed a stressless tournament prior to AO to bring him back up to speed. I hope that he wins this tournament, but either way it will be a confidence booster.

[robbie]

I don't know if I'm reading the correct reviews of Andy's opening matches. You read the "world" press and it is not the rosey picture I see here....all "rainbows, cotton candy and lollipops"! What's really going on someone help me please? He's playing a tournament with no one esle in the top ten, 2 in the top 20, and everyone else in the 30s and 40s


or worst. Come on, if Andy can't slam dunk this event, we've got a problem.  

I see your breaking in the new year in you ever so gently way.
Happy New Year by the way.