Andy Murray survived the embarrassment of losing to his mother Judy’s tennis object of affection with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-4 victory over Feliciano Lopez in the inaugural match of the 2015 Mubadala World Tennis Championship on Thursday night.
The Scot will now face Rafael Nadal in the first semi-final of the exhibition event at 5pm on Friday, with world number one and defending Mubadala champion Novak Djokovic set to take on Nicolas Almagro or Stanislas Wawrinka in the second last-four tie at 7pm.
Wawrinka faced Almagro, who joined fellow Spaniard Lopez in replacing the injured French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils in the six-strong tournament, after Murray’s win.
Murray, who won the inaugural Mubadala event in 2009, conceded afterwards that he had not been at his best, but he added: “It’s nice to get through. It’s always been a very nice place to come. It’s my fifth or sixth time here and it’s fantastic preparation for the new season.”
The two-time grand slam champion edged a tight first set in the two-hour, 30-minute epic by winning a tiebreak 7-1 against Lopez, who Murray’s mum once called âDeliciano’ in reference to his swarthy good looks.
Yet in a match in which both players exhibited signs of early-season rust through a number of over-hit passing shots and double faults, Lopez lived up to his dashing image by taking the second set with some fine returns as Murray failed to apply the killer touch.
In the deciding set, Murray broke to love with Lopez serving at 3-3, only to drop his serve immediately following a double fault.
He secured another break with an emphatic smash, but then double-faulted twice in succession as he attempted to serve out the match.
Finally, after seven deuces and more mistimed shots and limp second serves from Murray, the Scot prevailed 6-4.
