Andy Murray came back from a set and a double break down at 0-3 in the second set to battle past Benoit Paire 2-6 7-5 7-5 in 2 hours and 33 minutes on Court Rainier III and advance to the quarter finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Paire hit 47 winners but he ended the match with 52 errors and double faulted when he was serving for the match and on Murray’s first match point.
Murray made two double faults to trail 0-3 in the second set. Murray clawed his way back into the match by getting one break back for 2-3. Paire got another break point at 4-2 but Murray held his serve for 3-4 before breaking serve to draw level to 4-4. Murray took the lead for the first time in the match by holding his serve for 5-4. Paire held serve to 30 and forced the game to deuce in the 11th game. At 5-6 40-0 Paire double faulted to force the game to deuce. Murray served out on the second set point to force the match to the decider.
Murray had to save a break point to hold his serve in the eighth game. Paire got the chance to serve for the win after converting his third break point chance in the ninth game of the third set at 5-4. The Frenchman made two double faults when he was serving for the match at 5-4 30-15 allowing Murray to break straight back to draw level for 5-5. Murray earned two match points at 6-5 and sealed the win as Paire made another double fault after 2 hours and 32 minutes.
Murray claimed a confidence-boosting win after losing in the third round in two consecutive tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
“Hopefully I can start to play a little bit better. Every win is important right now at the start of the clay season to get a feel for what is going well and what isn’t. He gave me an opportunity in the middle part of the second set when he started to make a few mistakes. It wasn’t my best match, but I fought as hard as I could right to the end and managed to get the win. I think he played extremely well and I was a bit slow. I have never played him before and he has a difficult game to figure out”, said Murray.
In the quarter finals Murray will face milos Raonic who overcame the loss of the second set to edge past qualifier Damir Dzumhur 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-5) on the Court des Princes in 2 hours and 32 minutes. Murray and Raonic will meet again f. or a re-match of last January’s Australian Open semifinals.
Raonic claimed his second win over Dzumhur this year after beating the Bosnian player in the quarter final in Miami. Raonic has reached the quarter finals in Monte-Carlo for the third consecutive year. Dzumhur beat last year’s Monte-Carlo finalist Tomas Berdych in the second round.
Raonic got his first break in the sixth game as Dzumhur hit his backhand long and held his next service games comfortably to take the first set 6-3.
Raonic faced the first break point of the match in the fourth game of the second set but he saved it. Dzumhur got his first break in the sixth game for 4-2. Raonic broke straight back in the next game. Dzumhur broke again to clinch the second set forcing the match to the third set. Raonic saved a break point in the third set. The match was decided by the tie-break Dzumhur fought back from 3-5 to 5-5 but Raonic won the final two points to claim a hard-fought match.
“I wish I was a bit more efficient, but it’s the way the match plays out. I think he has been playing great. He has had great results this week. I had to really dig deep, find a way and thankfully a few things came together and I was able to get there”, said Raonic.
