Murray makes Brisbane progress

Andy Murray shrugged off a second-set scare to reach the last eight at the Brisbane International with a 6-1 5-7 6-3 victory over world number 199 John Millman.

Murray raced through the opening set with three breaks of the Millman serve but was broken twice in the second as the 23-year-old, playing in only his fifth tour-level match, fought back to take the match into an unlikely decider.

Fears grew for Murray as he looked in some pain at times in the third set, but he managed to claim the solitary break required to wrap up victory in two hours and five minutes, and set up a quarter-final meeting with Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

Murray told atptour.com: "I wasn't too disappointed with the way I played. For a first match of the year, that was a perfect match in many ways to go through some tough moments, a lot of long rallies, close games and important points."

The US Open champion added: "I think it was a pretty high-quality match. The first set wasn't that comfortable. He gained confidence and started going for his shots more.

"He was returning my first serve extremely well and playing right up on the baseline and just going for big shots. It was tough for me to dictate too many of the points.

"I made some adjustments with the way I was serving in the third set that turned it around, but he played really, really well for the most part."