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SHANGHAI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Scot Andy Murray stuttered in the opening set but still made the quarterfinals of the ATP Shanghai Masters with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 win over American John Isner in the third round on Thursday.
"I think I am hitting the ball clean from the back of the court. I'm not making loads of unforced errors," the 28-year-old Murray said after the two-hour, 31-minute victory.
"My rival's serve is tough to read obviously. He has a great serve. It's hard to return in perfect conditions.
"Today I made some bad decisions at certain times. My shot selection could have been a bit better at the important moments. But then when I was break points down, I came up with some really good tennis," he added.
The world number two was made to work in the first set with both players unable to break or even have a breaking chance. Isner was better in the tiebreak and drew the first blood after winning 7-4.
Murray, a two times winner at Shanghai, looked more comfortable in the next two sets and began to hit stride with his all-court groundstrokes.
The giant Isner, who fired 22 aces to just nine from Murray, could win points on back of his serve but could not add more on footwork.
To the thunderous crowds in the Center Court, Murray convincingly had one break each in the next two sets to take the victory at 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4 and improved his head-to-head record against Isner to a prefect 5-0.
Murray's reward will be a quarterfinal clash against either fifth seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic or 10th seed Gilles Simon of France.
