AP, Vienna :
Andy Murray reached the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open after a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada on Thursday.
The second-seeded Murray, who had a bye in the first round, dropped serve while leading 3-2 in the second set but held off five more break chances for Pospisil. The Canadian had 27 aces in his first-round win over Daniel Brands of Germany but just three against Murray.
“It was a tricky match to start with. He serves well and is a quick mover,” Murray said. “It was hard. It was the first time I played indoors since Rotterdam, which was seven, eight months ago. And it’s always different to play indoors. … The match could’ve definitely been a lot closer.”
Murray decided only last Friday to accept a wild card as he is chasing points in order to qualify for the ATP Finals in London next month.
“Hopefully, I can improve for my next game,” the Scot said after his 470th career win. He joined Fabrice Santoro in 50th place on the Open era win list.
Murray next plays Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, who won the last seven points in the third-set tiebreaker to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 7-6 (6), 2-6, 7-6 (3).
David Ferrer advanced to his 15th quarterfinal of the season after defeating Tobias Kamke of Germany 7-5, 6-1. The fifth-ranked Ferrer, the top seed, avoided service breaks and converted his second match point with a forehand winner.
