A difficult start: Murray struggles with his serve but pulls through to progress to quarter-finals. Pic: ©SNS
British number one Andy Murray bounced back from a poor second set to book his place in the quarter-finals of the ATP Farmers Classic.
The top seed received a first round bye for the Los Angeles tournament and started his debut of the tournament off in style as he sailed through the first set without difficulty against American Tim Smyczek.
The Scot held and then broke the 22-year-olds serve and then maintained his power throughout the set without even facing a break point.
However, the Scots serving difficulties made an unwanted return allowing Smyczek to take three break points in game four of the second set and take a 3-1 lead.
Murray showed resilience by breaking back to return the scores to a level 3-3 but then let it slip away again to 5-3.
The Australian Open finalist broke the serve once again but was unable to buy a hold as his first-serve percentage for the set fell to a 42 per cent allowing the American to level the scores at one set each.
This evenly matched game continued into the third set as the pair exchanged breaks in the opening two games.
However, Murray began to show his number four ranking as he broke again for 2-1 and finally held to give himself a two-game advantage - a turning point in the game which took him on to serve out for the win.
The 23-year-old will now play his last-eight tie against Colombia's Alejandro Falla who beat fifth seed Ernests Gulbis earlier in the day.
