Andy Murray progressed to the quarterfinals of the China Open on Wednesday with a hard-fought victory against fellow Brit Cameron Norrie, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-1.
The Scot took the first set after one hour and six minutes, earning four set points in the tiebreak and converting the fourth.
The second set was similarly close, with Norrie gaining a 4-2 lead with a break of serve before former world No. 1 Murray fought back to force another tiebreak.
While Norrie emerged victorious from the tiebreaker, Murray immediately halted his opponent’s momentum and raced to a 5-0 lead.
The three-time Grand Slam champion soon served out the set, securing the win after two hours and 52 minutes on court.
“I decided like, if I want to win, I have to go and take risks and come to the net, try and finish the points quicker, which I did. I did that well at the end,” Murray said.
In women’s play, US Open champion Bianca Andreescu won her 15th match in a row. The No. 6-ranked Andreescu beat Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 7-6 (5) in a second-round match.
It was a rematch of a US Open quarterfinal, which Andreescu won en route to her first career Grand Slam title last month.
Andreescu, a 19-year-old Canadian, will face Jennifer Brady in the next round. Brady earlier beat fellow American Madison Keys 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Top-seeded Ash Barty advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 win over Zheng Saisai of China. The French Open champion saved five of five break points to record her 50th win of the year.
“It’s a new challenge, new circumstances, different environment,” Barty said. “But I’m always up for the challenge, so I’m happy to be here.”
Petra Kvitova defeated Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-3 to reach her fifth career China Open quarterfinal.
In the first round in Beijing, Murray defeated world No. 20 Matteo Berrettini — the highest-ranked player the 32-year-old has beaten since making his comeback from hip resurfacing surgery earlier this year.
Murray will face either top seed Dominic Thiem or wild card Zhizhen Zhang in the next round.
Also Wednesday, fourth-seeded Karen Khachanov beat Jeremy Chardy, and eighth-seeded Fabio Fognini beat Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-4.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.