Andy Murray had to deal with a determined performance from the German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round of the Indian Wells' tournament earlier today, before ultimately claiming a three-set victory over his rival. That success matched his fellow Brit Heather Watson in the women's event, something of a rarity for Murray these days to have some 'internal' rivalry as to which British player progresses the furthest in a competition. Like Watson, he is now into the last-16 of the prestigious event and will face the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in round four.
The world number four ultimately triumphed 6-1 3-6 6-1, but had stuttered during the second set against the German, after he had seemingly being in control during a comfortable first set and playing well. He took the first set in rapid time, finding his range and relentlessly hitting near or on the baseline with his ground strokes. Breaks in games four and six ensured the set went his way at a canter.
Given their previous head to heads (of which there had been just two), it was perhaps no great surprise that the German did not feel intimidated by playing a man ranked so highly in the world though. He has beaten Murray once and also pushed him all the way to a deciding fifth set in last year's French Open, before finally losing that one 10-12.
Kohlschreiber, ranked number 26, improved in the second set, as he found the rhythm that had eluded him earlier and gained some confidence from an opportunity to break that Murray squandered. The German then forced several break points with the score at 4-3, as errors crept into Murray's play, and took the fifth one to force the break.
He served out to force the match into a deciding final set.
Normal service was resumed in the third set, however, as Murray went on to the offensive again and broke immediately to go 2-0 ahead. That soon became 4-0 as the German's game fell away, and this time there was no coming back, as Murray took the match after a little under 2 hours on court.
The victory took him up to a career total of 495 wins, now just one behind the previous British number one and former Wimbledon crowd favourite, Tim Henman, who currently holds the record for a British Tennis player in the Open-era. Comparisons between the two as to who was the better player will of course be made, but Murray's two Grand Slams compared to Henman's failure to win at that level, surely places the Scot above the Englishman.
Murray's next opponent at the BNP Paribas Open, Mannarino, is currently ranked 38 in the world and therefore unseeded for this event. The two have never met before on the tour, so new precedents will be set in their match. He is in fine form after defeating the 14th seed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4 6-4 in his third round match.
As with all of the matches that Murray faces against Frenchmen between now and the Davis Cup tie in July, his form will come under close scrutiny as to which players cause him the most difficulty, so expect an intriguing match-up.
Others through to the fourth round at Indian Wells included the number one seed and favourite Novak Djokovic and Japan's 5th seeded Kei Nishikori. There was however a surprise, as the in-form David Ferrer of Spain was for once not at his best, when going down in straight sets to Australia's Bernard Tomic.
