Murray rides luck to beat Dimitrov and reach quarters

MELBOURNE - Agence France-Presse

Britain's Andy Murray reacts after a point against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov during their men's singles match on day seven of the 2015 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2015. AFP Photo

Three-time runner-up Andy Murray rode his luck to fight back and win a titanic four-setter over Grigor Dimitrov and reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on Jan. 25.
      
Sixth seed Murray beat the 10th seeded Bulgarian 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 7-5 and will now play Australian teenager Nick Krygios in the last eight.
      
The British star showed fantastic fighting qualities to claw back from 2-5 down in the fourth set to deny Dimitrov taking the epic match into a fifth and deciding set.
      
Murray, a two-time Grand Slam champion but luckless in Melbourne in three losing finals, will now have to battle a home crowd when he takes on Kyrgios in the last eight on Tuesday.
     
The Scot hit 42 winners and served at 67 percent, breaking Dimitrov's serve seven times.
      
"I got quite lucky at the end, a couple of net cords went my way and that was the difference really," Murray said of the gruelling 3hr 32min match on Rod Laver Arena.
      
Murray won match point on a net cord.
      
"A lot of the games were close, back and forth, and the momentum was switching both ways all the time," he said.
      
"Grigor is an unbelievable athlete, he's extremely quick around the court, so agile, and he gets shots that other players don't get to and he's got fantastic hands as well.
      
"I'm just glad that I managed to get through it at the end."       

Dimitrov lamented that he could have done things better and was disappointed at relinquishing his lead in the fourth set.
      
"I mean, if you lose you obviously haven't done some things right," he said."
      
"I'm happy that I competed at a good level and it takes a player like Andy to beat me like that.
      
"I'm just disappointed because it's not the result that I wanted. For sure I could have done things better.

Nadal back to best, Kyrgios wins five-set thriller

Rafael Nadal looked back to his best after recent problems as exciting Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios won a memorable five-setter to reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on Sunday.        

Spain's world number three Nadal mastered big-serving South African Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena to set up a last eight showdown with Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych.
      
It will be Nadal's eighth quarter-final appearance as he bids for his second Australian title after losing to Stan Wawrinka in last year's decider.
      
Nadal, who won the Open in 2009, showed no signs of the cramps and dizzy spells he suffered when taken to five sets by American Tim Smyczek in the second round as he starts hitting top form.
      
"After a tough period of time for me it's a fantastic result and I'm very happy with the way I played today," he said.
      
"It was probably my best match here this year so that's very important for me and very special."        Berdych was too strong for Australia's Bernard Tomic, winning in straight sets.
      
Berdych, a semi-finalist last year, had too much power for the 66th-ranked Tomic to win 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 in 2hr 1min, taking his record against the Australian to 3-0.        

He has now made the quarters for the third straight year without losing a set.
      
"I was feeling good on the court. It's not easy, the crowd was great but they're on the other side," Berdych said.
      
"I'm not complaining about it, but I'm just saying that was the set-up of today's match. I'm happy with the way I handled it and glad to be in the quarter-finals."                       

There was high emotion on Hisense Arena as local teen Kyrgios roared back from match point down to overhaul Roger Federer's conquerer Andreas Seppi in five sets.
      
The 53rd-ranked Kyrgios defeated the 46th-ranked Italian 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) 8-6 and will play Andy Murray in the final eight.
      
Kyrgios fought off a match point at 5-6 in the fourth set and went on to force a tiebreaker before downing Seppi in a titanic fifth set in front of a charged home crowd.
      
It will be the second quarter-final inside a year for the 19-year-old after he reached the last eight at Wimbledon, becoming the first male teen to reach multiple Grand Slam quarter-finals since Federer in 2001.
      
"When I saw I had finally won the match it was incredible. It was the best feeling I ever had," Kyrgios said.
      
"To know the body could come back from two sets to love, knowing I haven't had matches, it's just massive confidence."