Murray wins battle of Britons to set up Thiem clash in Beijing

Reuters: Andy Murray extended his winning run in Beijing by beating fellow Briton Cameron Norrie 7-6(6) 6-7(4) 6-1 yesterday to seal a spot in the China Open quarter-finals where he will face top seed Dominic Thiem of Austria. 

Murray, who won his first ATP tour singles encounter in nine months at Zhuhai last week, was made to fight for two hours and 52 minutes and won consecutive tour matches for the first time since his hip resurfacing surgery in January.

The Scot beat eighth-seeded Italian Matteo Berrettini 7-6(2) 7-6(7) in the first round on Tuesday and now meets world number five Thiem who beat Chinese wildcard Zhizhen Zhang 6-3 6-3.

“I’m really tired, I just had a sleep before coming,” Murray said. “That’s the first time I’ve had to do that since I came back. It’s something that I need to kind of get used to again, especially playing at this level and that intensity.

“It was a good step for me, it’s great that I won the match. Whether I’d won or lost it, I was able to come out... and be competitive and play some good tennis... I’m happy I’ve got the day off tomorrow to recover.”