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Andy Murray - Source: Reuters -
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Fourth seed Andy Murray suffered a late wobble before beating
American Michael Russell 6-3 7-5 to reach the Indian Wells ATP
tournament quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Murray, beaten in last year's final by Spaniard Rafael Nadal,
appeared to be cruising to a routine victory when he led by a set
and 5-2 but Russell offered dogged resistance to extend the Scot
who was not at his best.
Russell played an inspired game to break Murray's serve and claw
back to 5-5 but the 31-year-old American faltered at 5-6 and netted
a backhand at matchpoint down.
"He hits it solid from the back of the court and stays close to the
baseline," Briton Murray said on court after his first meeting with
Russell. "He's very quick, has a great attitude and made it
difficult for me.
"I started well and was up in the second but he started to make me
move whereas earlier I was dictating. The points were getting
longer and longer.
"The thing that was good about that match is a lot of long, tough
games," added Murray, who was beaten by world number one Roger
Federer in the Australian Open final in January.
"My serve, when I was down, I played well. I saved a lot of break
points and played well on a lot of 30-all points."
Clinical Win
Big-serving American Andy Roddick, the seventh seed, booked his
place in the fourth round with a clinical 6-3 6-4 win against
Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker.
Roddick broke his opponent once in each set to end the match in 75
minutes and will next meet Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who advanced
courtesy of a walkover when German Simon Greul withdrew due to
illness.
"I felt pretty good," said Roddick.
"I felt like the points he was winning he was either having to play
a pretty high risk shot, maybe go for a winner, or he was having to
go deep into rallies.
"So if you do that over the course of a match, you normally like
your chances."
In other matches, sixth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling eased past
Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 7-6 6-4 while ninth-seeded Frenchman
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came from a set down to beat Albert Montanes of
Spain 4-6 6-3 6-3.
World number one and three-times champion Roger Federer was playing
Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in Wednesday's late match.
