Andy Murray battled to a three-set victory over Argentinian Pedro Cachin to
reach the quarter-finals of the Gijon Open in Spain.
As in his impressive first-round win against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Murray began slowly and this time had to fight back from a set down to clinch a 2-6 7-5 7-6 (7-3) triumph after two hours and 49 minutes.
“I think I served well in the second and third sets but also I just fought very hard,” said Murray, who hit 31 winners and committed 19 unforced errors.
“In the first set I wasn’t playing my best and Pedro was serving very well for the first set and a half and I was really struggling to break serve.
“I changed a little bit the way I was returning and gave myself more opportunities to break and fought very hard to come back from a break down twice in the third set.
“I haven’t played against Pedro before, I haven’t practised with him so I didn’t know exactly how he was going to play, which makes things difficult.
“I maybe didn’t play quite as well as the first match but I fought hard and that’s the most important thing.”
The Scot remains on course for his first tour-level title since he triumphed in Antwerp in 2019
Murray failed to take his chances in the first set, seeing five break points go begging while Cachin, ranked 61, took two of his three opportunities.
He tightened things up on serve in the second and levelled the match, breaking in the 12th game as Murray converted his first set point.
It remained a battle through the decider and Murray was twice a break down after dropping serve in the first and fifth games before hitting straight back.
Cachin survived some close moments to force a deciding tie-break, where Murray capitalised on his strong start to set up a last-eight clash with either American Sebastian Korda or veteran Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
The 35-year-old world No 46 is aiming to win his first tour-level title since he triumphed in Antwerp in 2019.
