Murray digs deep and recovers to fight another day

The world No 4’s participation looked in doubt because of an ankle injury and he lost the first five games before gradually turning things around.

He lost the second set from a break up and then won the second from a break down before ending the evening very much on top against the 15th seed from Serbia.

All eyes were on Murray’s right ankle after he rolled it during the second set of his third-round win over Michael Berrer and finished the match virtually on one leg.

The Scot had declined to give any updates on his condition in the 48 hours between matches but still looked very cautious with his movement in a gentle practice yesterday lunchtime.

Berrer had made Murray’s life easy by letting his sympathy for the fourth seed’s plight affect his game but Troicki, who himself had been suffering with food poisoning, was never likely to follow suit.

The early signs were certainly not good from the fourth seed’s perspective as, barely able to run from side to side, he lost five games in a row.

The only question seemed to be how long Murray would continue but he retrieved one break of serve and slowly the momentum began to change.

It was not enough to prevent Troicki taking the first set but there was hope where to start with there certainly had not been.

Troicki had never taken a set off Murray in three previous meetings but he has been a different player since helping Serbia win the Davis Cup last year.

Murray led 4-2 in the second set but lost four games in a row to trail two sets to love.

Another break for Troicki in the third game of the third set seemed to spell the beginning of the end but the fourth seed dug deep.

In the eighth game he upped his level decisively and then served out for the set.

With the clock ticking past 9pm, and Troicki looking extremely weary, Murray broke through to lead 3-2.

He then took his second break point with a forehand cross-court winner, giving him the chance to serve out the set to level proceedings after two hours and 52 minutes.

Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5 6-3 6-3 victory over Ivan Ljubicic.

Novak Djokovic received a free passage through to the semi-finals when Fabio Fognini withdrew yesterday through injury.

Frenchman Gael Monfils finished off a 6-4 2-6 7-5 1-6 8-6 win over seventh seed David Ferrer.

Juan Ignacio Chela won 4-6 6-2 1-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 against qualifier Alejandro Falla.