Andy Murray has long maintained that he remains capable of competing against the world’s best players; the frustration for the former world No 1, since he underwent hip surgery three years ago, has lain in his struggle to parlay encouraging one-off results into appearances at the business end of tournaments.
Murray’s performances at this week’s Boss Open in Stuttgart, where he moved into the last four with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world No 5 and top seed, will encourage him he is making headway at just the right moment.
Tsitsipas is the highest-ranked player the 35-year-old has beaten since 2016, and he is now through to his first tour-level semi-final since January, having reached the same stage at last week’s Challenger event in Surbiton. It is a run of form that vindicates Murray’s decision to skip the French Open in favour of an extended build-up to Wimbledon, where he is a two-time champion.
In the first renewal of hostilities between the pair since the opening round of the US Open last August, when the Scot took aim at Tsitsipas over his perceived use of delaying tactics after falling to a dramatic five-set defeat, Murray moved freely and served with authority. He showed his trademark defensive resilience to ward off a set point in the 12th game, blocking a meaty Tsitsipas return back into play to prise an error, and held firm on serve in the ensuing tiebreak, where he finally prevailed after the Greek sent a lob beyond the baseline.
Murray, who defeated seventh seed Alexander Bublik in the previous round, secured a break in the sixth game of the second set, topping off some fine defensive play with a running backhand pass. Tsitsipas fought off two match points on his serve at 2-5 before Murray, serving for the match, sealed victory with a crunching forehand winner. He will now face Nick Kyrgios, who came through his quarter-final against Marton Fucsovics after the Hungarian retired with a back injury while trailing 7-6 (7-3), 3-0.
“I thought I did well,” said Murray. “He served unbelievably well in the first set. I felt like I had very few chances when I was returning, but when he was creating chances on my serve, I stayed strong. I played a really solid tiebreak.
“In the second set, I served well, his serve dropped a little bit. Once I was in the rallies, I felt like I was dictating a lot of the points. So it was a good performance.
“I don’t want to say that I was necessarily the smarter player, but I think that maybe this surface really suits my game style. Stefanos plays well on all of the surfaces, but this surface works really nicely with my game and I’m able to use my strengths well on this court.”
Murray, currently ranked 68th, is now guaranteed to move up at least 15 places on the rankings ladder. Victory over Kyrgios would see him break the top 50 for the first time in four years, moving him closer to his ambitious goal of securing a seeded position at Wimbledon.
“I know what to expect,” said Kyrgios, who has lost all but one of his six meetings with Murray. “But he also is a veteran on the grass, and I don’t want to take him lightly at all.
“I’m just going to go out there, serve big, look after my serve and see what I can do on his return games.”