• US Open, Day Six

Murray stutters past Lopez

Andy Murray reaches for a backhand © PA Photos

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Andy Murray had to quell an inspired Feliciano Lopez and battle through a serious case of fatigue in order to book his place in the fourth round of the US Open.

Murray came into the match having won all six of their previous meetings, including at last year's US Open, but for spells in this contest on Louis Armstrong Stadium there was nothing between the pair.

Lopez played some inspired tennis that had Murray on the rack, but at the vital moments - in the first and second-set tiebreaks - he blinked and Murray took advantage.

The match looked done as Murray had a break in the third, but he ran into a brick wall and it handed Lopez a way back.

Lopez took the third and was the boss in the fourth, but Murray kept holding serve and he found the reserves to win the fourth set tiebreak to win 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 4-6 7-6.

The serve is a key weapon for Lopez and he was strong in the first set. In contrast, Murray was a little sloppy and he gave Lopez a look at break points in the third game. The Spaniard came in confidently to the net on the second of them but sent a backhand volley a fraction wide.

Lopez's one moment of alarm in the first set came in the 10th game as Murray worked three set points, but on each occasion he found big serves to dig himself out of trouble.

There was little between the pair in the opening tiebreak, with Lopez's chance coming at 4-4. He had a good look at a weak Murray second serve but chose to push the ball back rather than attack it and he sent his return into the net. It cost Lopez as on set point he threw a forehand over the baseline to gift the set to the No. 3 seed.

Lopez looked shell-shocked at the start of the second as he surrendered his serve. Murray, though, did not stamp on his man while he was floundering as he threw in an awful serve to gift the break back.

This appeared to spark Lopez into life as he produced some of his best tennis of the match. Winners flew off his racket, one stunning forehand in particular at 105mph.

There was controversy at 5-4 in the second as Lopez felt hard done to by a call and remonstrated with the umpire. It appeared to fry him for a while but he held serve to take the second set into a breaker.

Lopez continued to fire and Murray was up against it after dropping 4-1 behind in the breaker but he came up with a stunning disguised dropshot and it brought about a shift in momentum and a couple of points later he took the set when Lopez framed a forehand into the crowd.

Losing the second set appeared to deflate Lopez as he dropped his serve, but Murray handed him a break back and he did so again after breaking for a second time. Lopez looked down and out, but within 10 minutes there was a massive shift as Murray appeared to hit a brick wall. His movement was laboured and it handed hope to Lopez who broke again and then served out to take the third - after which Murray trudged to his chair like a beaten man.

Murray fended off break points in the opening game of the fourth set, but he looked on the limit physically and this was reinforced when he took a tumble on the baseline - with his legs seemingly betraying him. His movement was laboured and his body language that of a man on the edge, but he came up with two massive serves to hold in the fifth game.

A wounded animal is a dangerous animal and Murray tapped deep into his reserves to thwart Lopez time and again.

He saved a break point in the 11th game with a stunning effort, took the match into a tiebreak and he produced a brilliant backhand passing shot that worked a mini-break. The nature of the passing shot, off a fine approach from his opponent, possibly sapped everything out of Lopez as he surrendered the match in disappointing fashion with a drop shot into the net.

Next up for Murray will be the in-form Milos Raonic, who scored a comfortable win over home favourite James Blake in the evening. Raonic blasted 29 aces as he cruised to a 6-3 6-0 7-6(3) victory, appearing in control from the baseline throughout the contest.

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