[Joe]

Andy Murray battled to a win against Marius Copil in the dead of the night, 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-4), to reach the quarter-finals of the Washington Open.



As UK-based fans woke to find they could watch a match they expected to sleep through, Murray fought hard against early adversity to clinch the victory at 03:02 am, Washington time.

Murray looked on-course for a routine tiebreak win in the first set after taking a 5-0 lead against his Romanian opponent, but lost it against the odds as the next seven points went against him.

Recovering quickly from that mental blow, Murray took charge of the second set with two breaks to level the match.

He appeared on course to close it out routinely with another break to go 4-2 up in the final set, but Copil immediately hit back to force a deciding tiebreak.

Crucially and encouragingly, at that time of night and after a tough win on Wednesday against fellow Briton Kyle Edmund, Murray's fitness carried him through the breaker to seal a landmark win on his comeback trail.

Murray was unable to contain the emotions inside and sobbed into his towel. In the press conference afterwards, Murray had strong words to say about the tournament scheduling and its impact on him:

Finishing matches at three in the morning is not good. It’s not good for the players. It’s not good for anyone, I don’t think, involved in the event. It’s not good for fans, TV. Nobody.

I’m giving my view right now as someone who’s just come back from a very, very long injury layoff. I don’t think I should be put in a position like that, when you’re expected to come out and perform the next day. I don’t think it’s reasonable.

It doesn’t feel great, just now. I don’t know how you are expected to recover from that.

By the time you’re done with all your recovery and stuff, it’s going to be six in the morning. I’d obviously try and sleep as late as I can, but with the way your body clock is and stuff, you know, you might get a few hours’ sleep. It’s not good. And it’s basically like playing two matches in a day.

Nonetheless, with this hugely satisfying victory the Scot moves back into the world's top 400 in the live rankings.

Murray will attempt to keep this gutsy run in Washington going when he meets Alex de Minaur of Australia, ranked 72, on Friday night.

[blueberryhill]

Thanks for the report Joe.
Saw last 2 sets. So happy for Andy and so proud of him as a fan,
Rumours he will withdraw against de Min. Might be wise in the circumstances.

[plj]

"Murray looked on-course for a routine tiebreak win in the first set after taking a 5-0 lead against his Romanian opponent, but lost it against the odds as the next seven points went against him."

Jeez!

Is that really the only thing you can focus on in this match?

[Matthew2408]

Thanks Joe.

Andy managed to win thanks to being very strong mentally and being incredibly clutch at most parts of the match. Countless times he came back from 0-30 down in the first set to hold serve. The only mental lapse from Andy coming in the first set tiebreak. There were many positives from this match and his ability this week to win tight matches can only be a good sign for his comeback. Whether Andy plays tonight or not will depend on how he feels and whether he still feels sore from the last nights efforts. If Andy is to play then it must mean he has confidence in his body and if he doesn't then he can get some well earned rest for hopefully a good run in Toronto.

[circe]

From a purely logistics pov, good timing to retire and recover for Toronto surfing the moral high ground as a bonus. If he can go QF there, 180 points would make him top 200.

[neverhurryamurray]

^ I doubt Andy is interested in any moral high ground  - not his style...

i

I am a bit surprised and disappointed he pulled out.  Never the right thing to do unless actually injured. Being pissed off about the timings not good enough. He should not have entered if unable to play three set matches against low ranked players on consecutive days. How would he manage a slam with five sets?  I think it’s weird what is going on with Andy . The crying was disturbing. Does he need a good coach?

[althusser]

How would he manage a slam with five sets? 

He's trying to build towards being able to do that.

[blueberryhill]

not at all weird or disturbing I don't think, just human.

Oh come on now, surely   "real men" don't cry,  Andy needs to "man up" and "stop being a "big girl's blouse"  and other awful outdated clichés that really make me want to