Surbiton Trophy: Andy Murray three games away from ending six-year grass-court singles title drought
- Seb Sternik
- 2 June 2022
Former world number one Andy Murray has taken another step towards his first singles title on grass since 2016 after sealing his place in the Surbiton Trophy quarter-final.
The Scotsman came through a testing encounter with Dutchman Gijs Brouwer as he won 7-6 7-6 to progress into the quarters of the Challenger Tour event.
Murray opted to miss the French Open in order to better prepare for Wimbledon. He certainly made a solid start at Surbiton, following up his straight sets victory over Jurij Rodionov with another solid display.
The Brit will return to action at the southwest London venue on Friday when he takes on American Brandon Nakashima.
Murray hasn't won an event on grass since claiming the 2016 Wimbledon title. What's more, he hasn't won an event period since the European Open in 2019.
The three-time Grand Slam winner kicked off his match against Brouwer with an ace to delight the capacity crowd at the Surbiton Racket & Fitness Club.
How @andy_murray made it through to the last 8⃣#BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 | #SurbitonTrophy pic.twitter.com/3plTRJZpRx
— LTA (@the_LTA) June 2, 2022
The Dutchman produced a couple of his own aces later in the match, but was unable to stop Murray during the first tiebreak. The Olympic gold medallist completed the 7-4 tiebreak win with an exceptional backhand winner.
Brouwer fought hard and took Murray to another tiebreak in the second set. Once again though, the Scotsman showed great quality as he powered to a 7-3 win.
Murray is yet to drop a set at the event and remains on course for his first trophy on grass in over 2,150 days.
Elsewhere at the Surbiton Trophy
Ryan Peniston came back from behind to beat Jack Draper in three sets. After losing the opener 7-6, the Brit showed great character to win the last two sets 7-5 6-4.
Australia's Max Purcell was also victorious as he beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert in straight sets, 6-4 6-4.
Jordan Thompson, who went out in the first round of the French Open against Rafael Nadal, bounced back with a straight sets win over India's Ramkumar Ramanathan, 7-5 6-3.
The big shock of the day came on court one as Liam Broady was knocked out by Denis Kudla, losing 7-6 6-3 against the American.
