Tennis: Murray beats Dimitrov to reach Open quarters
Sixth seed Murray beat the 10th seeded Bulgarian 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5.
MELBOURNE (AFP) - Three-time runner-up Andy Murray rode his luck to fight back and win a titanic four-setter over Grigor Dimitrov and reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on Sunday.
Sixth seed Murray beat the 10th seeded Bulgarian 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5 and will now play Australian teenager Nick Krygios in the last eight.
The British star showed fantastic fighting qualities to claw back from 2-5 down in the fourth set to deny Dimitrov taking the epic match into a fifth and deciding set.
Murray, a two-time Grand Slam champion but luckless in Melbourne in three losing finals, will now have to battle a home crowd when he takes on Kyrgios in the last eight on Tuesday.
The Scot hit 42 winners and served at 67 percent, breaking Dimitrov s serve seven times.
"I got quite lucky at the end, a couple of net cords went my way and that was the difference really," Murray said of the gruelling 3hr 32min match on Rod Laver Arena.
Murray won match point on a net cord.
"A lot of the games were close, back and forth, and the momentum was switching both ways all the time," he said.
"Grigor is an unbelievable athlete, he s extremely quick around the court, so agile, and he gets shots that other players don t get to and he s got fantastic hands as well.
"I m just glad that I managed to get through it at the end."
