ABU DHABI // A first-round casualty on his past two visits to the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, Andy Murray avoided a similar fate on Thursday night with a 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
Champion at the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2009, Murray was knocked out by Janko Tipsarevic on his return in 2012 and, a year later, the Scot was handed another straight sets defeat by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
On Thursday night he started positively, winning the opening set in a tiebreaker with an ace on his second serve.
Lopez fought back to take the second, during which Murray hit a sensational left-handed winner.
Then, with both players tiring, the deciding set was a drawn-out, error-strewn affair that finally ended when Lopez sliced a backhand long.
“It was really good,” Murray said. “We played like, what, two-and-a-half hours, and it was a fairly high-quality match.
“There were some periods in the match, a couple of games, where the level dropped a bit, but there were some good rallies.
“Some of the games were pretty tough.
“Lopez is a different opponent to most of the players you play on the tour these days, so it was a good test for me, and I am happy I got two-and-a-half hours of good, competitive tennis to start the year.”
Murray will meet familiar foe and two-time Mubadala champion Rafael Nadal in Friday's first semi-final.
The two have met 20 times on the tour, with the Spaniard holding an impressive 15-5 record.
The Scot did beat him here in three sets to win the 2009 final.
“When you have not played a match after a while, normally you can wake up a bit stiff the next day, a bit sore,” Murray said.
“So I will see how I wake up tomorrow, but it is good for me to be able to test myself against Rafa and I will keep trying to improve.
“I am now guaranteed another two matches here, which is perfect and exactly what the players want.”
Lopez, who will meet compatriot Nicolas Almagro in Friday’s play-off for fifth place, was also pleased to start the new year with a tough three-set match against a member of the Big Four.
"I feel it was a great match overall," said the Spaniard, who, at No 14, is enjoying his highest ranking in tennis after his best year on the tour.
“We played two-and-a-half hours, and for the first match of the year, that’s what I needed. I think I played some great tennis during the match.
“By the end of the match, I was a bit more tired because I was almost two months without those matches, but I am really happy with my performance.”
Lopez is making his first appearance at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship and took several positives out of the opportunity.
“As I said before, this tournament is a great chance for everybody to challenge the top players of the world,” said the Spaniard, 33.
“I played Andy tonight and tomorrow I play Almagro. For me, to play my first match of the year against Andy is always great because you can see where you are and what you need to do to improve your level.
“Rafa [Nadal] has been playing here since the beginning, I think, and he told me it is a great place to come. The weather is perfect and the people are very friendly.
“So, as I said before, I could not have asked for a better preparation.
“To play two-and-a-half hours against one of the best players in the world today is the best way for me to get into shape for the new season.”
In Thursday's late match, third-seeded Stan Wawrinka made short work of Nicolas Almagro, winning 6-3, 6-2 against the No 6 seed to set up a semi-final against Novak Djokovic.
arizvi@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE