Andy Murray admitted he rode his luck after being made to battle for his place in the Australian Open quarter-final by Grigor Dimitrov.
The Olympic champion came through the match in four sets, eventually winning 6-4 6-7(5-7) 6-3 7-5 in three hours and 32 minutes.
But it was far from plain sailing for Murray, who breathed a sigh of relief as he booked his spot in his 16th consecutive Grand Slam quarter final.
The Bulgarian raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set but Murray showed grit to come back. However Murray then dropped his first set of the tournament in the second despite serving at 6-5 up. And after the Brit sealed the third, it looked like the match was destined for a decider when the 23-year-old Dimitrov broke early on and held serve for a 5-2 advantage.
However the Scot showed that he was back to his battling best as he won five straight matches to set up a clash with home favourite Nick Kyrgios.
“I did get quite lucky at the end and a few net points went my way and that was the difference really and a lot of the games were close,” said Murray.
“It was back and forth and the momentum was switching all the time but once I got it I just tried to keep it going.
We caught up with Nick Kyrgios following his win over Andreas Seppi to chat about being the final Australian left in the draw, and his next match v Andy Murray.
“I thought tonight’s match was entertaining and there was a lot of good rallies, I hope it was entertaining for everyone watching.
“Grigor is an unbelievable athlete and he’s extremely quick around the court and so agile so he gets shots that other players don’t get to. It was a tough match and I’m just glad to get through in the end but I thought I played a good match in the end.”
The match was characterised by brilliant stroke play, lengthy rallies and comebacks from both players as the momentum ebbed and flowed.
It enabled Murray to avenge his shock loss at last year’s Wimbledon.
