During the day 3 of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Andy Murray won his first round match in three sets, while Isner, Karlovic and Khachanov reached the quarterfinals.
‘It could have run better’ was the exact phrase used by Andy Murray following his lacklustre 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-0, win over Martin Klizan in the first round of the Vienna Open. The British world No.2 won the first set, but Klizan came back from a break down twice in the second and won the tie-break 7-5 to force a third. Though, the story was totally different in the decider, with Murray closing out the match 6-0 to complete the roller coaster in 2-hour-and-22-minute encounter.
“I did not serve so well in the first two sets, which got me in trouble at the end of the second,” said Murray. “I then served better and increased my game.” He later added.
Murray will next play tour veteran Gilles Simon in the quarter-finals. The top seed currently has a winning head-to-head of 15-2 against the Frenchman.
“This will be a tough match. He is very experienced and moves extremely well. He is a very intelligent player on the court.” Said Murray about the upcoming match. “We know each other very well and have also played against each other in the semi-finals of Shanghai.”
Besides Murray’s triumph, giants John Isner and Ivo Karlovic took advantage of their huge serve to reach the last eight. Isner won a 2-hour-and-13-minute battle against fellow big server Feliciano Lopez 7-6(1) 3-6 7-6(2). The American did not convert any of his six break points, while Lopez took advantage of his only chance to take the second set. On the other hand, Isner fired 31 aces (15 in the final set) and recorded 76% of first serves in to dominate the two tie-breaks.
37 year-old Karlovic produced probably the biggest comeback of his career to oust the Bosnian 24 year-old Damir Dzumhur 7-6(6) 4-6 7-6(5) with 33 aces after 2 hours and 7 minutes of play. The Croat suffered a back injury in the third set as he went 5-1 down, but somehow he was able to win five games in a row before winning the tie-break 7-5. After the match, he joined John Isner and Goran Ivanisevic as the only players who hit more than 1000 aces in four different seasons.
Elsewhere in Vienna, Karen Khachanov defeated qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2 7-5, Philipp Kohlschreiber battled past Stephane Robert 4-6 6-3 7-6(3) and Albert Ramos-Vinolas eliminated Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-2.
