Murray advances to Brisbane semis
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Andy Murray kept his hopes of back-to- back titles at the season-opening Brisbane International tennis event alive Friday with a hard-fought victory at this Australian Open tune-up.
The top-seeded U.S. Open and Olympic titlist outlasted Russia's Denis Istomin 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) on the hardcourts at Queensland Tennis Centre.
Istomin smacked seven aces in the match compared to four by Murray, but he could not convert on his two break chances.
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Murray's semifinal opponent will be Japan's No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori, who reeled off five aces and saved 2-of-3 break chances by fourth-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov en route to a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) victory.
Dolgopolov fell to Murray in last year's Brisbane finale and was denied a chance at redemption.
A pair of upsets supplied the event's other semifinal matchup as Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis, a former Aussie Open runner-up, upended third-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4, and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria eased past seventh-seeded Austrian left-hander Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2.