Aix-en-Provence Challenger: Andy Murray beats Luca van Assche in straight sets to reach semi-finals

Andy Murray’s clay-court recovery continued as he defeated Luca van Assche 6-2 7-6(6) to reach the semi-finals of the Aix-en-Provence Challenger.

The Scot will face Harold Mayor or Alexander Bublik next as he rebuilds confidence and form ahead of Roland Garros in the wake of a shaky start to the clay season.

Murray cruised through a confident opening set before recovering from facing two set points to edge a second set tie-break.

It was a third victory in a row for the 35-year-old, who also defeated Gael Monfils and Laurent Lokoli in France, but his first against a top-100 opponent as he took down the world No. 86.

Wild card Murray, seeded fifth, suffered heavy defeats in the first round at Monte Carlo and the Madrid Open, but he is now one match away from facing world No. 17 Tommy Paul or David Goffin for the Aix-en-Provence title.

Murray had a wobbly start as he was forced to save a break point in the opening game, but he soon settled and took control in game six.

Back-to-back double faults from Van Assche handed the Scot his first break point of the match on a plate and he seized it to punish the youngster.

The Murray serve held firm and he pounced again on set point for his second break, Van Assche sticking a backhand in the net to round off a confident opener for the former world No. 1.

Murray ended the first set with 88% of first serve points won and having saved the only break point he faced and taken the two chances he had in a clinical display.

But that hard work was undone immediately in the opening game of the second when the 35-year-old coughed up two break points and, despite saving the first with a backhand winner, an unforced error handed Van Assche an early sniff of a comeback.

The Scot’s response was strong though, as he immediately broke back, pulling his opponent around the court with a drop shot and lob to force the error on break point and level things up.

Murray roared with frustration when Van Assche hit a winner to save a break point later in the set, while the Frenchman showed great composure to save two match points and hold while serving at 4-5 down, both squandered by the Scot through unforced errors.

A wayward Murray backhand got him off to a bad start in the tie-break, but he recovered to edge himself into a 4-2 lead by the switch of ends.

But the three-time major winner was visibly frustrated by his errors as he surrendered four consecutive points including a double fault to find himself facing two set points.

Murray dug deep to save both, the second with an ace, before an angled forehand proved unreturnable for Van Assche and handed the Scot a third match point. This time he made no mistake, Murray bellowing in delight as the 18-year-old’s return flew long.

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