Andy Murray joined Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson by completing a clean sweep of British victories on Nottingham's Centre Court; the three-time Grand Slam champion next faces Portugal's Nuno Borges for a spot in Sunday's final
Friday 16 June 2023 20:58, UK
Andy Murray completed a clean sweep of British victories to make it through to the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open on Friday.
After Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson all reached the last four of the women's event, Murray defeated Dominic Stricker 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 for his eighth-successive victory.
The 36-year-old is bidding to win a second-successive title on the second-tier Challenger Tour having triumphed in Surbiton last week and is yet to drop a set in Nottingham.
He said of the home success in his on-court interview: "This week has been great but a couple of weeks ago we're hearing British tennis wasn't doing so great. Things change a lot on a week to week basis. You just want all of the players to reach their potential and make sure everyone is working hard.
"Not everyone is going to win Wimbledon and Grand Slams but you just want to make sure everyone is making the most of this amazing opportunity to play tennis for a living.
"This week has been brilliant and the women have done extremely well this week and hopefully that continues throughout the year but it should be a fun weekend for British tennis fans."
He did not have things all his own way against 20-year-old Swiss Stricker, with neither man able to create a break point in the opening set.
Murray played a fine tie-break to move in front, clenching his fist as he sat down in his chair, but it was Stricker who made the first move in the second set.
The eighth seed took his third chance to break for 3-1 only for Murray to respond straight away and Stricker then took a medical time-out for treatment to his back.
With the clock ticking past 8pm, Murray pushed for another break and finally got it, a Stricker backhand dropping wide to give his opponent the chance to serve for the match - and the Scot made no mistake.
Murray, who next faces Portugal's Nuno Borges, feels he is heading firmly in the right direction, saying: "It was a really, really tight match today against one of the best young players in the world.
"He has a really good game, huge shots from the back of the court but also really nice touch up at the net.
"I'm really glad to get through that one because it was really close. That's the best I've played across the last two weeks in terms of how I hit the ball and everything. It was really positive."
The Scot would likely move just inside the world's top 40 if he goes on to lift the trophy and he has one more chance to earn ranking points at Queen's Club next week with a top-32 position required to be seeded for Wimbledon.
