Andy Murray clinches fighting win to reach Surbiton Trophy semifinal

London [UK], June 10 : British tennis star Andy Murray came back from being a set down in difficult conditions to seal his semifinal spot in the Surbiton Trophy on Friday.
As per ATP, Murray defeated Australia's Jason Kubler 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a two hours, six-minute match. In order to advance to the final four, Murray sent the World No. 69 on the run beyond the baseline and varied things up, showing off his share of slice-and-drop shots.
"Really hard conditions today, a lot of wind gusts, but I did well to finish it off. I played some good tennis when I needed to. It was a match where you just need to try and find a way to get through, not so much about the quality of the tennis," said Murray as quoted by ATP.
Kubler, who had reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, received some treatment on his back while he was trailing 0-3 in the final set. Despite Kubler breaking his serve in the game that followed, Murray, a three-time major champion held his nerves to book a final-four clash with defending champion Jordan Thompson, who beat Rinky Hijikata 7-6(1), 6-2.
Murray is chasing his second ATP Challenger title for this year, having captured the Challengers 175 crown at Aix-en-Provence, France by defeating Tommy Paul in the final. This was also 36-year-old's first title at any level since 2019.
The brand-new ATP 175 events, which are hosted during the second week of a few ATP Master 1000 tournaments, were introduced by the ATP Challenger Tour this year and have already attracted some Top 40 players.
"A lot of the Challengers now, there are more points up to offer at a lot of them so the draws tend to be stronger. Now you also have the 175s, where the draws are more like 250 events. I feel like the level has improved, more players pick up points in these events. You see here, there is [11] Top 100 players here [in Surbiton] and a few pulled out as well, so I feel like the level has improved," said Murray.
Murray was defeated by Thompson, an 11-time ATP Challenger Tour champion, at the ATP 500 match at Queen's Club in 2017. In the match on Saturday, the 29-year-old will try to shock the hometown favourite once more.
Jurij Rodionov will compete with Zizou Bergs for a position in the championship match in the top half of the draw. In the quarterfinals, the sixth-seeded Gabriel Diallo was easily defeated by the Austrian player Rodionov 6-4, 6-4, while Bergs defeated Constant Lestienne 7-6(2), 6-3.
The Surbiton Trophy started on June 4 and will end on June 11. .