Andy Murray continued his remarkable resurgence with a phenomenal three-set win over fourth seed Alexander Zverev to advance to the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.
Fresh from saving three match points to defeat Lorenzo Sonego in round one, the three-time Grand Slam winner did not cut it so close this time, prevailing 7-6[5] 2-6 7-5 in just over three hours.
Taking advantage of a few early unforced errors and a double fault on Murray's side, Zverev earned the first break of the match in the third game, but the German was quickly brought crashing back down to earth as Murray broke back immediately.
Zverev was proving the more threatening, and he broke Murray again in the ninth game, albeit not without controversy, as a line judge called a Zverev shot out before quickly correcting himself as Murray hit the net cord.
Having given away a third break point, the Briton made his frustrations known to the umpire to no avail, but he capitalised on more mistakes from Zverev to break straight back for 5-5 thanks to a stunning backhand winner.
After saving a set point in a nail-biting 12th game, Zverev took Murray to a tie-breaker, but his continued spate of errors proved costly as Murray took the first set.
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However, Zverev was a man reborn in the second, storming into a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game, and he threatened the double break in the sixth before Murray just about managed to hold.
The Brit's small reprieve would soon be wiped out, though, as a fired-up Zverev - irked by some interruption from a member of the crowd - broke again in the eighth game to comfortably level the match and force a third set.
The momentum was firmly on Zverev's side by this stage, as Murray had to fend off break points in both of his opening service games in the third set, keeping himself alive in the contest by doing so.
Murray was performing admirably to keep Zverev at arm's length, and the former world number one's perseverance would be rewarded, as he earned a pivotal break in the 11th game as Zverev returned a forehand long.
Serving for his place in the quarter-finals, Murray brought up two match points on Zverev's serve, but the German came to the net and connected with a backhand volley to save one of them.
However, it was Murray's turn to send a stunning cross-court backhand past Zverev to knock out the fourth seed and clinch his place in the final eight, where he will meet French qualifier Alexandre Muller.
Ben Knapton
