Murray battles through in Paris

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:55

In a match which did not begin until 11.30pm local time, Murray was tested all the way before eventually triumphing 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (6-4).

Murray will now face Radek Stepanek in the early hours of Friday morning.

Murray broke the American in the fourth game to put himself in the driving seat in the opening set only for Blake to claw his way back to return the favour immediately to go to 3-2.

The pattern continued as Murray took the sixth game on Blake’s serve with a second break to go to 3-3 and it quickly became 4-3 as he held serve.

Murray made it four games on the trot by breaking serve again in game eight and then served out to take the opening set 6-3.

Both players then held serve through the second set, forcing a tiebreaker as the marathon day’s play continued.

Blake pushed 6-4 ahead and it was then that Murray slipped and seemed to hurt his leg scrambling for the ball. He got up to face set point but could not stop Blake levelling the match at 1-1.

Murray still looked to be struggling as the third set begun, but he battled through another lengthy fight as both players held serve to force another tiebreaker.

Murray finally made his move, pushing 5-3 ahead, but he could not hold serve to give Blake another chance. However, Murray got back to 6-4 ahead for his second match point and clinched victory when Blake hit a shot long, ending the contest after two and a quarter gruelling hours.

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