Murray Sets Up Roddick Clash After Rollercoaster Victory

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British No. 1 Andy Murray booked a quarterfinal clash with defending champion Andy Roddick after surviving various injury scares and an in-form opponent at The Artois Championships on Thursday.

Murray had treatment for thumb, neck and groin injuries during his third round match against Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis before wrapping up a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory to reach the quarterfinals at The Queen’s Club for the first time.

“It was a very good win,” said Murray. “He's a very tough player, huge serve, is confident right now obviously. But I served really well throughout. I think he had breakpoints in only one of my service games throughout the whole match. I felt like I was creating more chances than him and I took mine at the end.”

On a damp afternoon in London, both players struggled to find their footing in the early stages of the match, and it wasn’t long before the first rain delay of this year’s tournament forced players off court after just four games.

It was Gulbis, the French Open quarterfinalist, who struck the first blow after the restart, breaking Murray’s serve to lead 6-5 in the opening set.

That was just the start of Murray’s problems however, as the Scot slipped and needed considerable treatment to his right thumb before Gulbis served out the first set.

“We had a long point where I was at the net,” said Murray. “I was kind of semi diving for it, a shot, and it went into the net. I didn't even realize I'd done anything until a couple of points later and [my thumb] started to feel a bit sore. So I had a pretty red mark right on the joint.”

Murray, seeded No. 6 this year, soon found his form in the second, breaking Gulbis twice to force a decider. But there was more drama to come at the start of the third set as Murray slipped at the back of the court in the first game and looked in some pain as he received treatment to his neck and left groin.

“I thought I'd hurt it pretty badly when I went over, but I knew as soon as I got up that it was going to be okay,” added Murray.

Fears that he may have to retire were soon dispelled as he took to the court and continued to hold serve. With the set evenly poised at 4-4, the 21-year-old produced some inspired passing shots to break Gulbis before booking his place in the last eight after exactly two hours of playing time.

Out of the three injury scares, it was the thumb that Murray was more concerned about heading into his match with Roddick. “I've seen the doctor after the match and he thinks that I've sprained it, not broken anything, which is obviously good,” said Murray.

“I'm pretty concerned about it right now. If I can't sign autographs or whatever, then I guess it's not great. It's not really affecting my gripping too much, but it's more the sort of little things that you don't realise you're doing on the court.”

Should Murray be fit to take to the court, he takes a 4-2 head-to-head advantage over Roddick going into their seventh meeting, including a victory over the American at Wimbledon in 2006.