Andy Murray survives Giles Muller scare at Queens club

London: Andy Murray survived a major scare to keep his bid for a record-equalling fourth Queen’s Club title on track with a hard-fought victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller in the quarterfinals on Friday. Murray dropped the first set and was taken to a tie-break in the second before finally prevailing 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 to reach the last four at the Wimbledon warm-up event for the fourth time.

Watched by Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho for the second time this week, this was Murray’s least convincing display of the tournament. But he did just enough to secure a semifinal meeting with John Isner of the United States or Serbia’s Viktor Troicki on Saturday. The 28-year-old last triumphed at Queen’s in 2013 and if he lifts the giant silver trophy on Sunday he will join Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt as the joint record winner of the tournament.

“I started to read his serve a bit better at the end of the tie-break and that’s when the match changed,” Murray said. “I returned better, relaxed a bit more and played some good tennis. “Hopefully I can take that form into the semifinals. I’m in a good place, physically I feel good.” Although Murray still has plenty of room for improvement as he fine-tunes his grass-court preparations ahead of Wimbledon, the Scot can at least take heart from the gritty way he subdued the big-serving Muller to extend his record since getting married in April to 18 wins from 19 matches.

He also now holds a 23-5 career record at Queen’s, making him the firm favourite in a tournament bereft of star names following surprise defeats for Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov. World No.48 Muller, 32, had blasted 56 aces in his first two matches in a tournament whose fast surface has been a major bonus for the big servers. Murray’s serve isn’t quite so potent and, with his groundstrokes erratic in the early stages, he found himself broken in the fourth game of the match. Against a server in Muller’s blistering form that proved fatal to his first set chances.