Murray Passes Another Three-Set Test; Dolgopolov Saves 3 MPs

© AFP/Getty ImagesAndy Murray also beat Mikhail Kukushkin in three sets on Tuesday.

Top seed Andy Murray was forced to work hard for a quarter-final berth at the Brisbane International on Wednesday when he beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-0 in just over two hours.

Murray saved two break points at 3-4 in the second set and came within two points of defeat at 5-6, 30/30. The World No. 4 took an early lead in the tie-break and went onto to cruise through the deciding set in 19 minutes, dropping just seven points. Muller, who his 23 aces past Ricardo Mello in his first-round win, did not hit a single ace against Murray.

"The more matches I can get this week the better so it's been a good start," a relieved Murray said after the match.

Second seed Gilles Simon dismissed Australian wild card James Duckworth 6-3, 7-5 in 90 minutes. The Frenchman fired 11 aces and converted three of his eight break point chances to prevail over the No. 275-ranked Duckworth in 90 minutes.

"I think I played a good match," said Simon. "He has a strange game, strange serve; his serve is not easy to read and he would rush to the net. So it was surprising. I thought I was better than him from the baseline, so I really wanted to engage him every time. He would do something very good, and then something very bad right after. I never knew what to do exactly, so that was why the match was complicated."

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Third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov saved six of eight break points and withstood 10 aces from the racquets of Igor Andreev to beat the Russian qualifier 6-7(3), 7-6(9), 6-2 in two hours and 39 minutes. Andreev led 4-1 in the second set, before being pinned back to 4-4. In the tie-break, Andreev squandered three match points. The pair also met in Brisbane last year, with Dolgopolov winning 6-4, 6-2.

Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis improved to 3-0 lifetime against fifth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan with a 6-3, 6-4 win. Baghdatis hit 10 aces and won 62 per cent of his service points for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Sixth seed Radek Stepanek booked his place in the quarter-finals with a 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen. The Czech player improved to a 14-2 event record in Brisbane; he won the inaugural edition in 2009 (d. Verdasco) and finished runner-up in 2010 (l. to Roddick).

Eighth seed Bernard Tomic, the top Australian at No. 42 in the South African Airways 2012 ATP Rankings, required just 45 minutes to beat Japanese qualifier Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 6-2. Tomic hit 10 aces and converted five of six break point opportunities past Ito, who won 41 per cent of his service points. Tomic advances to his third tour-level quarter-final and his first on home soil.