Andy Murray celebrates the biggest victory since his return to the ATP tour. At the 250cc tournament in Shenzhen he defeats the top seeded David Goffin 6:3 and 6:4.
Murray was able to break Goffin in his second service game and then took the lead 4-1. But Goffin, who had been in Chicago for the Laver Cup last weekend, answered immediately and could reduce the score to 3:4.
The Scotsman, however, was not deterred by this, broke again and took the set with his fifth ace. Murray transported the momentum into the second run, took his opponent’s serve for the third time and then increased it to 2:0 after defending a break opportunity.
The three-time Grand Slam champion did not let up and took the lead 3-0 after another break. Murray, who struggled with the unknown Zhizhen Zhang in the first round and benefited from his opponent’s abandonment in the third set, dominated his Belgian opponent at this stage at will.
But the number eleven of the world fought back and could make up for at least one of two breaks with a service breakthrough to 1:3. Only a few points later Murray had already restored the old lead.
After defending a break chance and with two aces in a row, the former number one and current number 311 of the world took the lead with 5:1. However, Goffin did not give up and came back to 4:5. For the defending champion, however, this was ultimately nothing more than cosmetic results. Although Murray had to fend off another three break points when he was out of the game, the Brit turned his first match point after 90 minutes.
In the quarter-finals, the 31-year-old, who will retire early after the tournament in Beijing, will face Fernando Verdasco or Taro Daniel. In a possible semifinal either Alex de Minaur or Damir Dzumhur could wait.
The tableau of the Shenzhen Open