Murray Marches Past Cuevas, Into Antwerp QFs

It hasn’t always been easy for Andy Murray during his comeback from January hip surgery. But the Scot is increasingly finding ways to win.

Murray reached his second ATP Tour quarter-final in three weeks on Thursday, defeating Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 6-3 to make the last eight of the European Open in Antwerp. The former World No. 1 now has a .500 record (7-7) at tour-level for the first time since his singles return in Cincinnati.

The 32-year-old let slip his first seven break point chances of the match, but the Scot kept pushing for a breakthrough. And once he did, he Scot never looked back, triumphing after one hour and 24 minutes.

“I felt a bit better today. I thought I served quite well for most of the match and when I was able to get into the baseline rallies, I felt I was hitting the ball quite clean, which is good,” Murray said. “He served very well, which made it difficult for me to get the breaks, but I thought for me it was a good match.”

With a 5-4 lead in the first set, Murray played aggressive tennis to break through Cuevas’ defences. He attacked the Uruguayan’s backhand, eliciting a slice error into the net to break for the opener.

Cuevas made a big push in the second set, earning the only four break point chances he had in the match in the set’s opening game. But Murray maintained his focus, and he would break for 4-2 when Cuevas pushed an inside-out forehand wide.

Murray leads Cuevas 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, never relinquishing more than four games in any of the seven sets they have played. The World No. 243 will next face Romanian Marius Copil, a qualifier who blasted 13 aces past third seed Diego Schwartzman to upset the Argentine 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(7).

“It’s getting there. It sometimes takes me a little bit longer to get warmed up in the matches and sort of feel confident with my movement,” Murray said of his physical progress. “But today I think from the beginning of the match I started pretty well. It was a good day.”

Murray has won both of his previous matches against Copil, including a three-hour, two-minute triumph last year at the Citi Open that ended at 3:02 am. The Romanian made last year’s Basel final.

“I know him a little bit. He’s had some good wins this week. He plays well on this surface, so I’ll need to be ready for that,” Murray said. “He serves extremely well, so I’ll need to return well.”