British teenager Andy Murray has booked a place in the quarter-finals of the $850,250 Swiss Indoors, following up Wednesday's win over Tim Henman with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Czech Tomas Berdych.
Thursday's second round encounter was another nervy affair with Murray eventually winning through thanks to a clever choice of shots but also due to some glaring lapses from his higher-ranked opponent.
"That was pretty hard physically because yesterday took a lot out of me," Murray told reporters after winning in one hour and 54 minutes.
"I woke up pretty stiff this morning and didn't feel that great in practice but once I warmed up in the match it felt okay."
After successfully defending four break points in his second service game, the 18-year-old was effectively gifted the first set when Berdych served two double faults at the end of game seven.
The Czech world number 52 upped his game in the second set, breaking Murray twice without reply, but was unable to continue the momentum into the deciding set.
Once again, it was the seventh game that was to prove key with Murray winning three break points only for Berdych to double-fault once more.
IMPRESSIVE SEASON
Though far from pretty, Thursday's win continues an impressive season for Murray who has risen from world number 357 in June to his current ranking of 70th.
His chances of winning his first ATP title have also been boosted by a number of earlier upsets.
Top seed Guillermo Coria, third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, seventh seed Jiri Novak and eighth seed Tommy Haas all made early exits on Thursday.
Those results will have no immediate benefit though for Murray as he is now due to face surviving fourth seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in Friday's quarter-final action.
"Playing against him won't be completely different to playing Berdych because (Gonzalez) obviously serves big and has probably the biggest forehand in the men's game," Murray said.
"I saw that some of the other top players lost but I just have to look at the next match. To beat Gonzalez I'll probably have to play my best ever match, so I haven't even looked to see who I could play next."
