Andy Murray moved into the fourth round of the Australian Open in surreal circumstances on Saturday, completing a 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-2 victory over Joao Sousa after his father-in-law had collapsed ill a few hundred metres away.
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Despite pushing Murray into a tiebreak for the first time in four meetings, Tomic’s spirited late stand wasn’t enough as the British Davis Cup hero closed out the contest on his second match point to spoil Australia Day celebrations at Melbourne Park before they even started.
Tomic showed flashes of the quality that has had Australia raving about his potential since his early teens but was unable to maintain the level of his performance for sufficiently long periods to cause an upset.
“Obviously it depended on Nigel’s health”, Murray said after booking a place in the quarter-finals against Spain’s David Ferrer with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win over the 16th-seeded Tomic.
The 58-year-old father of Andy’s wife, Kim, who is expecting the couple’s first child in the next few weeks, was released from hospital after overnight tests and was already on his way back from Melbourne to London as Murray was finishing off his match against Tomic in Rod Laver Arena.
While Murray would lose his second service game, he rallied to break back twice and run out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set.
“It’s been a stressful few days but it was good to get through today”.
“I have to go out there believing I can win … and serve the way I’ve been serving”, Tomic said.
Murray was playing on the neighbouring Margaret Court Arena, watched by his mother Judy, and apparently unaware of what happened.
“Hopefully, it gets better in the next few days”.
Andy Murray will face David Ferrer for a spot in the semifinals. “It was a tough match and both of us had our chances in the tie break”. Two-time women’s champion Victoria Azarenka blew away Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-1 and raced into the last 16 for the loss of just five games in total, and also saw Garbine Muguruza cleared from her path as the third seed crashed to Barbora Strycova. “Scrappy match. It was a little bit up and down”.
“I think after previous year, I kind of created somewhat of a fan base”.
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Sears’ collapse mirrored an incident which shook up Ivanovic during her third-round match, when an elderly spectator was badly hurt in a fall on stairs at the same stadium.
