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Murray pushed but outlasts Muller to progress

Andy Murray needed two hours to beat Gilles Muller © Getty Images

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Andy Murray produced another patchy display before slipping through the gears to eventually dispatch Gilles Muller 4-6 7-6(4) 6-0 to advance to the quarter-finals at the Brisbane International.

Murray, who needed three sets to find a way past world No. 91 Mikhail Kukushkin in the previous round, showed more aggression on his serve - although his second effort was once again treated with minimal respect - landing 60% of first serves and winning 44 of 49 points on his first toss.

The first set was a cagey affair, with neither player establishing themselves as the frontrunner. Both men had one break point, with Murray failing to make his count and Muller making him pay when breaking in the 10th game for a 6-4 scoreline.

The shackles came off thereafter; there were two breaks of serve in the opening four games of the second set alone. Murray was first to strike - after a lengthy battle in the first, the world No. 4 eventually carved out a chance to grab the initiative, and he duly took it, before holding to cement his advantage. However, Muller quickly turned things around, firstly by getting himself on the board and then by stunning Murray on the Scot's serve to haul himself level at 2-2.

Although Murray's first-serve percentage had dropped considerably - to 48 at one point in the set - the Scot was still finding enough success to stay in the contest. With his second serve offering little threat, Murray was inviting pressure from his opponent, who should have made more inroads than he did. Muller wasted two further break points, allowing Murray to stutter into a tiebreak.

The British No. 1 showed his class by moving through the gears to race into a 3-0 lead and, although Muller applied some pressure, the Brit held him off to force the match into a decider.

Having held to begin the final set with renewed vigour, Murray broke Muller to move ahead in the match for the first time. He quickly extended his two-game cushion to lead 3-0, before Muller's resolve looked to be finally broken as Murray broke again. The Scot was unrelenting, breaking again to dish out a bagel and book a last-eight clash with Marcos Baghdatis.

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