Indian Wells 2014: Andy Murray wins ugly after overcoming Indian Wells curse

The Scot has to come from a set down to beat Jiri Vesely

Andy Murray of Great Britain returns a shot to Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic during the BNP Parabas Open at Indian Wells (GETTY IMAGES)

As an outdoor hard-court tournament, you might expect the Indian Wells Masters to be to Andy Murray’s liking, but the Scot has repeatedly struggled on his visits to the Californian desert. Jiri Vesely, a 20-year-old Czech who had not won a match on the main tour before the start of the season, last night went close to joining Donald Young and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in claiming the Scot’s scalp at the year’s opening Masters Series event before Murray recovered to win their third-round encounter 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Murray, who will next play the winner of last night’s match between Milos Raonic and Alejandro Falla, showed great fighting spirit to claim the victory after more than two and three-quarter hours. There were 14 breaks of serve and Murray had to come from behind to win both the second and third sets.

“It was a pretty ugly match,” Murray admitted afterwards. “There was no real rhythm. Neither of us really played well at the same time. Thankfully I just managed to dig it out at the end.”

Murray’s run to the semi-finals in Acapulco last week suggested he was playing his best tennis since his comeback after back surgery, but this display against the world No 77 indicated that he still has work to do. Vesely, a 6ft 6in tall left-hander, is a major prospect, but the former world junior No 1 looked outclassed when he dropped his opening two service games as Murray took a 3-0 lead.

However, the Scot was broken when he served for the first set at 5-4 and went on to lose the tie-break 7-2. Murray, who had come back from a set down to beat Lukas Rosol in his opening match, went 2-0 down in the second set, levelled at 3-3, but was struggling when Vesely served at 4-3 and 40-15. The Scot fought back, however, and went on to level the match with his third successive break.

The pattern continued in the third set. Vesely was the first to hold, for a 3-1 lead, and the Czech again held the advantage when he served at 4-3, only to let Murray back in once more. Vesely, who was suffering with cramp, was finally broken for the eighth time when he served at 4-5. He saved two match points but on the third put a half-volley into the net.

Britain’s James Ward went close to causing an upset when he took the first set against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez before losing 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Ward played as a “lucky loser” following the withdrawal of Juan Martin del Potro with a wrist injury. British pair Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins were also beaten in the second round of the men’s doubles by third seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo.