Britain’s Andy Murray reached his first ATP semi-final since June by going the distance again to beat French qualifier Alexandre Muller at the Qatar Open.
Murray, 35, fought back to win 4-6 6-1 6-2 against 26-year-old Muller, who was playing in his first ATP quarter-final.
The Scot will play Jiri Lehecka in the last four after the 21-year-old Czech beat top seed Andrey Rublev.
“He is one of the best young players on the tour, it’ll be a big test for me,” said former world number one Murray.
“He has started the year extremely well, did well at the Australian Open and hits a huge ball.”
Murray, who last reached the semi-finals of a tournament at the Stuttgart Open, has long been targeting deeper runs and playing against the inexperienced Muller provided a fantastic opportunity.
However, the issue for Murray in recent months has been recovering from gruelling battles in time for the next match.
All of his four previous wins in 2023 had gone to a deciding set, showcasing Murray’s fighting spirit and physical endurance.
This quarter-final – less than 24 hours after a long and gutsy win over Germany’s former world number two Alexander Zverev – followed the same pattern.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray, seemingly sensing a quick start would be beneficial after a short turnaround, did that by breaking for 2-0 before a careless third game allowed Muller to break back.
From that point the Frenchman relaxed and showed his power on the way to winning the first set in 53 minutes.
One of Murray’s trademarks is his resilience and he responded by upping his level in the second set.
Playing smarter and serving strongly, he denied Muller the time he had in the opening set to pick his shots and Murray’s level remained high in the decider.
“I would love to win one Qatar Open: Andy Murray beats Alexandre Muller to reach semi-finalsbut I have goals to achieve more than that,” Murray, who triumphed in Doha in 2008 and 2009, said.
“I am putting myself in a position now to do that going into the last couple of matches.
“I feel like these last few weeks are a step in the right direction and if I continue to play and compete like I am now, that I will have not just one opportunity to win a title but I will have more chances to do that in this last stage of my career.”
