Murray Reaches Surbiton Challenger QFs

Luke Walker/Getty Images for LTA

Andy Murray overcame a tough test Wednesday against China’s Yunchaokete Bu to advance to the quarter-finals at the ATP Challenger Tour 125 event in Surbiton.

The three-time major champion Murray raised his level in key moments to oust the Chinese #NextGenATP star Yunchaokete 7-6(1), 6-4 after two hours, 14 minutes. The 36-year-old fired 16 aces and fought off the 21-year-old’s aggressive style of play to advance at the Lexus Surbiton Trophy, where he reached the semi-finals in 2022.

After the match, Murray spoke on the importance of navigating through difficult moments during the first week of grass-court play this year.

“A physical match, quite a lot of long points,” Murray said in his post-match interview. “I was up 4-2, 40/0 serving [in the first set], and then I had set points at 5-4, set point at 6-5 as well. It’s good to play tie-breaks and go through tight matches on a different surface.”

The World No. 173 Yunchaokete, who stated Tuesday that he idolised Murray as a child, showed flashes of his best level against the second seed. When Murray held a 4-2, 40/0 lead in the first set, Yunchaokete won nine consecutive points to even the match at 4-4. Murray converted his fifth set point to gain an advantage on the Xinjiang native.

Former World No. 1 Murray then found more rhythm from the baseline to set up a quarter-final meeting against Jason Kubler, who moved past wild card Ryan Peniston 6-3, 7-6(5).

In other action at the grass-court tournament, Zizou Bergs produced a strong serving performance to defeat Australian qualifier Luke Saville 6-2, 7-6(4). The Belgian boasted an 86 per cent first-serve percentage and did not face a break point all match. Bergs will next face Constant Lestienne, who downed Denis Kudla 7-6(4), 6-4.

Top seed Daniel Evans will aim to book his quarter-final ticket Thursday, when he meets 6’8” Canadian Gabriel Diallo.