Murray Beats Wawrinka; Plays Ebden Next

© AFP/Getty ImagesAndy Murray has a 51-11 season record.

Defending champion and second seed Andy Murray moved into the Shanghai Rolex Masters quarter-finals with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory against Swiss No. 13 seed Stanislas Wawrinka in two hours and 12 minutes.

Murray, who is looking to complete an Asian swing treble by picking up his third title in as many weeks, was broken once in the eighth game of the second set. He took a 5-0 lead in the decider, but Wawrinka won three straight games before Murray regained control to record his 22nd win in 23 matches.

"I got myself pumped up right at the beginning of the third set," admitted Murray. "I think it was important. Stan was playing very well. I was trying to control the ball, especially [in the] middle of the second set, I was really struggling. I started dictating a lot of the points with my forehand and trying to get the first strike in 'cause the court is playing very fast.  That worked well.

"I served well for most of the match. It was just my timing was a bit off on some of my shots. I feel fine. My legs and stuff were a wee bit tired at the end of the match. But I [have] no stiffness at all in my body."

The 24-year-old Murray is bidding to lift his fifth ATP World Tour title of the year. In the past two weeks, he has won the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok (d. Young) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (d. Nadal).

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Murray will next challenge Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden, who reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final. The World No. 124 defeated eighth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(8) in two hours and 10 minutes.

"I guess the situation, to play for a quarter-final spot in a Masters tournament, is huge," said Ebden. "I was definitely a bit nervous out there closing out the match. But I think he was, too. [The] third set tie-break, it was very exciting, [and an] incredible feeling when I eventually won."

When asked about his five match points, Ebden added, "I think two of them I had good plays and he hit two passing shot winners. One of them he hit an ace. One of them I missed a volley I should have made. That was a bit disheartening. I managed to just hang in there. You keep going with it, stick to my game plan, and eventually [I] got over the line. Very relieving. Very, very exciting."

Simon, a winner of two ATP World Tour titles this year and a contender for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, hit 14 aces.