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Andy Murray will play local sensation Nick Kyrgios in a mouth-watering Australian Open quarter-final after overcoming Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round.
Murray outlasted Dimitrov 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-5 7-5 over 3 hours and 32 minutes.
The meeting of the sixth and 10th seeds was the 2015 Australian Open’s latest night yet and seemed destined to go even later.
With Dimitrov holding a break and looking assured at 5-2 in the fourth set, a fifth set looked imminent.
But Murray won a second break in a row with a fine backhand return winner.
Dimitrov responded to his capitulation by smashing his racquet in two places, ripping the handle from the head.
On the back of five straight games, Murray’s victory came in the cruelest of manners, with a forehand falling off the net cord and into the court outside Dimitrov’s reach.
The three-time runner-up at Melbourne Park will now face the unseeded Kyrgios on Tuesday for a shot at the semi-finals.
Unlike his teenage opponent, Murray has form in the Australian Open, extending his quarter-final streak in Melbourne to six and at all slams to a remarkable 16.
With another place in the last eight achieved, the dual grand-slam champion said he was expecting a tough encounter from Kyrgios.
“He’s had an unbelievable tournament so far,” he said.
“He’s only going to get better and I’m going to have to play a great match to win against him.”
Murray said the match could have gone either way.
“I had to get quite lucky at the end. A few net cords went my way. That was the difference,” he said.
“The momentum was shifting both ways a lot of the time.
“Grigor’s an unbelievable athlete. I’m just glad I managed to get through in the end.”
The Bulgarian raced to a 3-0 lead with the help of his monstrous forehand, only to be reeled in.
Murray awoke and roared into the match, winning six of the next seven games.
Serving an ace to claim the set, Murray continued his follow-through and jogged to his seat as if he was serve-volleying, fist clenched.
The two traded early breaks in the second set, with Murray breaking again to serve for the set at 6-5.
But Dimitrov answered the challenge, attacking and setting up three break points.
On the third, the Scot dibbed a 116km serve into the net to double fault and hand Dimitrov a lifeline back into the match.
Dimitrov used the momentum to his advantage in a fiercely competitive tie-break, chasing a drop shot down then backpedalling and ripping a monster backhand past Murray into the back corner.
Murray’s anguished face and the Bulgarian’s primal yell from the backcourt made it clear – this was a live contest.
The third set was routine in comparison, taken by Murray with a single break.
Dimitrov responded in the fourth set, rushing to the net to unsettle Murray and breaking him to lead 3-0.
Murray’s frustrations returned to the surface as the Bulgarian held firm on serve.
But he would turn around his fortunes with a strong returning game, restricting Dimitrov to just four aces for the match.
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