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 A day after Muller felled 2014 champion Grigor Dimitrov, the
big-serving left hander looked to be on the verge of another shock
as he overwhelmed the British top seed in the first set with some
bullet-like serving before the pair went toe-to-toe in the second.
However, a misfired smash that flew wide in the tiebreak appeared to
take the fight out of Muller and Murray levelled the contest to the
delight of the cheering crowd at the pre-Wimbledon grasscourt event.
The Scot gave the partisan fans plenty more to cheer about when he
broke Muller in the opening game of the third set and made sure he
did not relinquish his advantage.
Muller saved Murray's first match point with an ace but in the next
game the 2013 Wimbledon champion brought up his second match point
with a running crosscourt winner.
An unreturnable serve finished off the job and set up a semi-final
date with Serb Viktor Troicki who defeated American John Isner 7-6
(5) 6-3.
"I started to read the serve a little bit better in that tiebreak at
the end of the second set and that is when the match changed," said
Murray in a courtside interview.
"It's always tough when you are behind and I wasn't getting many
chances on his serve so it was a bit frustrating. In the second set
I was holding my service games well but wasn't able to get the break
through.
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"But towards the end I started to relax more and returned better and
played some really good tennis at the end and hopefully I can carry
that form through to tomorrow," added Murray.
"Physically I feel good and with Wimbledon around the corner it's
always good to pick up some wins."
The other semi-final will feature Frenchman Gilles Simon against
South African Kevin Anderson.
Simon knocked out Canadian third seed Milos Raonic 4-6 6-3 7-5 while
Anderson beat Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7) 7-5.
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Tony Jimenez)
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