Defending champion Andy Murray moved into the semi-finals of the Brisbane International yesterday when he downed a tenacious Denis Istomin, of Uzbekistan, 6-4, 7-6.
Murray, back on court after playing the late match on Thursday night, took his chances against Istomin on a few key points, edging out the world no.43 in two tight sets in just over an hour and a half.
The Scot broke Istomin once in the first set then came from 1-3 down in the tie-break to win the next six points and take the match.
By contrast, Istomin had two break points on Murray’s serve but was unable to convert either.
Murray, who had a tough three-setter against Australia’s John Millman in the previous round, was happy with his form this early in the season.
“It was a decent match, there were a few long rallies – it was quite a tough time of day to play on this court because of the shadows,” Murray said.
“But for the most part, it was good quality. He served well for the majority of the first set, and well at the beginning the second.”
Murray now plays occasional training partner Kei Nishikori, the Japanese number one, whom he beat in the quarter-finals of last year’s Australian Open.
Nishikori, who reached the final four with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over 2012 runner-up Alexandr Dolgopolov, said he was looking forward to the challenge of playing Murray.
“He could be the next number one player so it’s going to be tough,” the 23-year-old said.
Rising star Grigor Dimitrov will take on crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis, of Cyprus, in the second semi-final.
The Bulgarian has been impressive all week and won easily against seventh seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2.
Baghdatis also caused an upset when he downed third seed Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4, breaking the Frenchman once in each set.
Azarenka injured
Top seed Victoria Azarenka with-drew from her much-anticipated Brisbane International semi-final against Serena Williams yesterday after failing to recover from an infected right big toe.
Azarenka was due to play Williams in a rematch of last year’s thrilling US Open final, which Williams won 7-5 in the third set.
However, after undergoing a medical procedure on her toe on Thursday, Azarenka decided she could not take to the court for her clash with Williams, who will now play Russia’s Anastasia Pavylu-chenkova in today’s final.