Andy Murray came through another close shave as he held off French qualifier Alexandre Muller in a storming 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 fightback on Thursday to book a Doha semi-final place.
The two-time champion at the Gulf event went through his usual agonies, rallying and changing tactics after dropping the opening set against his neophyte opponent.
The treble Grand Slam winner then took charges in the second and third sets to run out the winner in two hours.
The Scot whose matches have all seemed to be lengthy so far this season, reached his first ATP semi-final since Stuttgart last June when he beat Nick Kyrgios.
He now faces Czech teenager Jiri Lehecka, a winner over top seed Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
After duelling for close to an hour and losing the first set to the 170th-ranked Muller, Murray decided a change of strategy was in order.
“I started to go for my shots more,” he said. “I was not doing enough with the ball,
“He was dictating and I was doing a lot of running.
“I had to step up and take more chances on my opportunities; I managed to turn it around.”
Murray’s called his first-time meeting with Lehecka “a big test for me,
“Hopefully I can put on a good performance.”
