Britain’s Andy Murray serves the ball to Nicolas Mahut of France during their first round match of the 42nd ABN AMRO world tennis tournament at Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Top-seeded Andy Murray advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Tennis Tournament with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada on Thursday.
The Australian Open runner-up, who faces eighth-seeded Gilles Simon of France in the next round, fought back from a break of serve in the second set and won the last four games.
“I moved well, and I felt like when I really needed to, I was able to improve my level and step my game up a bit,” Murray said. “I found a little bit of extra intensity in the important moments.”
None more so than when Pospisil served for the second set at 5-4.
“He was in a great position. But we had a 30-shot rally on set point. It was a very physical rally, I was making him do more of the running,” said Murray, the 2009 Rotterdam champ. “It took quite a lot out of him.”
Simon, who beat countryman Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-3, trails Murray 12-1 in career head-to-heads.
Second-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada, third-seeded Tomas Berdych, and No. 4 Stan Wawrinka also advanced.
Defending champion Berdych hit 10 aces in a 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Andreas Seppi. The third-seeded Czech will take on Gael Monfils for a spot in the semifinals.
“(Seppi) was not easy at all. I had my game plan, which worked perfectly from the beginning,” Berdych said. “He just started to play much better and took his chance, the only one he had in the second set. But in the third set, I was able to get my chances and execute.”
Raonic hit 17 aces in a 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Italy’s Simone Bolelli, while Wawrinka, the 2013 Australian Open champion, labored to a 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2 win against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.