Andy Murray progresses to the Brisbane International Quarter Finals

Top seed Andy Murray lost a set on his way to victory over 199th ranked local boy John Millman, but is gathering momentum in his build-up to the Australian Open.

Millman came back into the match to win the second set 7-5 after being blown away in the first 6-1. Murray regrouped and showed his class to set up a Quarter Final match against Denis Istomin, who himself beat another Australian – a certain Lleyton Hewitt – in straight sets.

Murray said that he was glad to be back playing matches in a competitive atmosphere after the off-season. He received a bye in the first round, so may well have been glad that Milman put up more of a fight than his ranking might’ve suggested possible.

A tough semi-final against either Kei Nishikori or Alexandr Dolgopolov awaits the victor of Murray v Istomin, but on the other side of the draw second seed Milos Raonic crashed out in straight sets to Grigor Dimitrov.

John Millman will have done himself no harm with his impressive performance against Andy Murray. In simple terms of rankings he was quite a low barrier for Murray to hurdle, but he gave a good account of himself. Murray claimed to have not underestimated his opponent, but admitted that he hadn’t seen him play before. As a US Open winner, now more than ever he is a considerable scalp for any player. He had to defend break points early on in the third set – that really set the alarm bells ringing, and he added a bit of bite to his game, and raised the level enough to see him through.

Andy Murray defeats John Millman 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.