How much does this all mean to Andy Murray?

The Scot fought for more than three hours against Marius Copil on Thursday, eventually beating the big-serving Romanian 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4) at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. They finished at 3:01 a.m. local time, the latest finish ever at the Citi Open, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

After the match, though, Murray, who’s playing in only his third tournament since the 2017 Wimbledon, showed how much he’s missed the sport. The Scot became overwhelmed with emotions, at first dabbing away tears after embracing Copil at the net.

But then Murray, sitting by himself on his bench, sobbed for minutes into his towel. The dozens of remaining fans cheered and clapped for the Scot, who is back to fighting for every point and loving every moment of it.

“Just the emotions coming at the end of an extremely long day and a long match,” Murray said.

No words, @andy_murray.

Just thanks for your emotions… ??#CitiOpen pic.twitter.com/w89E3sCzJg

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 3, 2018

The former World No. 1, who underwent hip surgery on 8 January, will next meet Australia’s #NextGenATP star Alex de Minaur, who beat 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

De Minaur had to do double duty on Thursday, finishing off American Steve Johnson before facing Chung. But Murray’s match takes tournament bragging rights. The previous latest end time in Washington, D.C., was 2:27 a.m.

Read More: De Minaur Leads #NextGenATP Charge Into Washington QF

Murray certainly had to want it against Copil, who made him work for the quarter-final berth. The big-serving Romanian was the more aggressive player in the opener, taking early leads in Murray’s service games and seeing four break points.

But Murray erased them all and led 5/0 in the tie-break before Copil climbed back into it, hitting a drop volley winner on set point. Murray, however, showed no hangover. He broke in the first game and cut down on his mistakes, slicing his unforced error count almost in half and forcing a decider.

The two traded breaks halfway through the final set before reaching another tie-break, where Murray grew more vocal by the point until Copil sliced a backhand into the net.

Chile’s Nicolas Jarry will break into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings for the first time on 6 August after reaching the semi-finals of the Generali Open.

The 22-year-old grandson of former World No. 14 Jaime Fillol continued his run in Kitzbühel by beating last week’s J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad champion Matteo Berrettini of Italy 7-5, 6-3 in 84 minutes on Friday. Jarry, competing this week at a career-high No. 53, started the year at No. 113 in the ATP Rankings. 

“I am very happy as I am playing very well,” said Jarry. “I am very calm and focused at the right moments and I’ve handled the pressure well. I haven’t been broken a lot, which has helped my confidence and every game I’m returning and playing from the baseline better.” 

Jarry will now prepare to meet Uzbekistani qualifier Denis Istomin, who was solid on serve to beat sixth seed Maximilian Marterer of Germany 6-3, 6-3 in 66minutes. The World No. 95 is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final since October 2017, when he advanced to the Chengdu Open final (d. Baghdatis).

Spaniard Jaume Munar, who was at No. 200 on 2 April, moved into his first ATP World Tour semi-final by beating Taro Daniel of Japan 7-6(3), 6-3 in two hours. Daniel won his first ATP World Tour crown in May at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open (d. Jaziri).

The World No. 88 awaits the winner of Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan and eighth seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia.

Jebavy/Molteni Upset In-Form Top Seeds
Roman Jebavy and Andres Molteni ended the nine-match winning streak of top seeds Julio Peralta, which includes back-to-back tour-level titles, in a 6-3, 7-5 quarter-final win over 73 minutes.

Peralta and Zeballos came into the ATP World Tour 250 tournament on the back of trophies at the SkiStar Swedish Open (d. Bolelli-Fognini) and the German Tennis Championships 2018 presented by Kampmann (d. Marach-Pavic).