Andy Murray put himself one step closer to his goal of being seeded at Wimbledon as he defeated Jordan Thompson 7-6(5) 6-3 in the Lexus Surbiton Trophy semi-final. Currently sitting at No 43 in the world, Murray must get to the top 32 to be seeded and he has already picked up some extra ranking points by surpassing his result from last year.
Murray was back in the semi-final of the Surbiton Challenger for the second year in a row, having lost at this stage 12 months ago. Facing world No 76 Thompson, the Brit got off to a fast start as he broke and raced to a 3-0 lead.
But he was broken to love, sending a ball wide to gift his Australian opponent the game. There was nothing separating both men as they headed into a first-set tiebreak and it was Murray who drew first blood, roaring as he secured a mini-break.
Thompson got back on serve but handed the second seed a set point when he dumped the ball into the net and Murray fired down an ace to take the opener 7-6(5) after an hour and nine minutes.
There was some drama early in the second set when rain halted play while Murray had a break point on the Thompson serve. The world No 76 saved it when play resumed but quickly relinquished the break, with the Brit putting himself in touching distance of the final.
Murray raced towards victory when he broke Thompson for a second time in the set and the 29-year-old received a code violation for ball abuse as he let his frustration out. It was Murray’s turn to get broken as he served for the victory, giving it away on a double fault.
But he managed to break straight back to secure the victory, booking his spot in another Challenger final a few weeks after lifting the title in Aix-en-Provence.
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