Murray so ‘proud’ after completing great escape

ANDY MURRAY reflected on one of the most emotional victories of his career after defying an ankle injury and the best efforts of Viktor Troicki to book a place in the quarter-finals of the French Open.

The match had to be completed yesterday after the Scot had fought back from two sets and a break down on Monday evening to tie things up.

The one-set shoot-out on Court Suzanne Lenglen seemed to be going Troicki’s way when the Serb moved to 30-0 serving at 5-3 but a combination of nerves and some gutsy play from Murray helped Britain’s number one chalk up five games in a row to win 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5.

He said: “I managed to come back from a situation that on another day or another tournament I might not have been able to, so I was proud of that.”

Murray will now face unseeded Juan Ignacio Chela for the third year in a row at Roland Garros.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer will face Novak Djokovic in a blockbuster semi-final after seeing off Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7/3).

The 2009 champion is the only man to have reached the last four without dropping a set and he never looked like doing so yesterday.

Federer is now the only man who can stop Djokovic becoming world number one and equalling John McEnroe’s record start to a season of 42 wins.

The pair have met five times in the semi-finals of grand slams, with Djokovic, who was given a walkover into the last four by Fabio Fognini’s withdrawal, winning three.

Djokovic could even become world number one before Friday if current incumbent Rafael Nadal loses to Robin Soderling in today’s quarter-final.