Andy Murray has continued his recent return from injury by reaching the quarter-finals of the ATP Open in Valencia.
The World No.4 clinched his place in the draw for the last eight after a battling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory against Leonardo Mayer (ARG).
Murray served up eight aces and won 79% of his first serve points during the two hour and twenty two minute match, but was made to work hard by a spirited performance from Mayer.
The Argentinean faced Murray after beating Igor Andreev (RUS), a player ranked twenty nine places above him, in the second round.
After breaking his opponent in the seventh game of the first set, the Briton went on to take the set before conceding the first five games of the second set. Despite fighting back to 3-5, Mayer served out the set to ensure the British No.1 truly earned his quarter-final place.
A tight third set was eventually decided in the sixth game when Murray broke his opponent and then recovered from 0-30 to hold serve and set up a clash with Albert Montanes (ESP).
Montanes, the world No.34, faces Murray after his second round opponent, No.8 seed David Ferrer (ESP), withdrew with an injury before their match.
With victory in Spain, Murray became only the third player to record 60 wins this season alongside Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, as he attempts to return to form after a six week break from the game with a wrist injury.
“I wanted to try and play matches before Paris (BNP Masters) just to see where I was at. If I’d lost after two and a half hours I would have been disappointed but it turned out to be the perfect match to get myself back in shape” said Murray afterwards.
Elsewhere on the men’s tour British No.2 Alex Bogdanovic was defeated 3-6, 7-6(3), 2-6 by Nils Langer (GER) at the €30k ATP Challenger event in Eckental (GER).