Sports Tennis

Sydney International: Andy Murray makes Quarter-Finals after losing first set to Nikoloz Basilashvili

After a first set loss, Andy Murray brought the hammer down on Nikoloz Basilashvili, a stellar performance to advance to the quarter-finals in the Sydney International, and a final score of 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

Despite Basilashvili winning the first set Murray showed no signs of hesitation, a seasoned veteran of pressure on the court, and pulled off a performance eerily reminiscent of his former rank one form.

Murray will look to face an in-form David Goffin in the next round of the tournament.

The German breezed past his last two opponents, winning swiftly with two consecutive sets in each match, hardly dropping any points.

Murray’s performance today may have showed signs of what he can do, but it arguably took him way too long to warm up to the court.

Murray started the match head to head with Basilashvili, losing the first few games and recovering bit by bit.

Ultimately the first set reached a tiebreak, where Murray and Basilashvili played a further 11 games before Basilashvili finally won bringing the match to 6-7 (4-7).

But halfway through the second set, Murray turned up the heat.

He came back from a game deficit, bringing yet another set to tiebreak, but with his back against the wall and his time in Sydney on the line, the scot managed to win the set and the tiebreak, which brought the match to 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3)

With some astonishing play, Murray closed out the third set quickly leaving no room for contention, it seemed as though he had only just decided as soon as the third set started that he actually wanted to advance in the Sydney International.

The British national ended the third set at a final score of 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, in order to advance to the quarter-finals.

In his post-match interview, Murray said: “I do like the physicality but I’d rather make it easier on myself.

“Basilashvili is hitting the ball consistently bigger than anyone on tour and I was having to do a lot of defending and running, my legs held up well in the end.

“Sometimes it felt I was hitting good serves and he was hitting massive shots. But in these conditions with no wind he is very comfortable and he was hitting huge balls one after the other and I was just having to fend them off.

“Yes I got a lot of free points with my serve. The rallies were on his terms a lot of the time, so I served a bit bigger midway through the second set. When he was serving I tried to take time away.”


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When asked about his future opponent Goffin, Murray said: “He had a tough year last year, missing a lot of tennis due to surgery.

“He’s on his way back, but he’s been up in the top 10, 15 in the world for many years before his injuries and I’m sure he’ll want to get back there.”

Murray will face Goffin tomorrow, January 13 in the quarter-finals.

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