Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017: ATP Scores and Results from Thursday

Andy Murray advanced to the semi-finals of the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Championships on Thursday after sealing a dramatic 6-7 (4), 7-6 (18), 6-1 win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber at the quarter-final stage.

The Scot was close to exiting the tournament and saved a sensational seven match points in the second-set tiebreak before gathering his energy to book a last-four encounter with Lucas Pouille.

Meanwhile, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco ensured the surprises kept coming in Dubai after he clinched a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Gael Monfils to set up a semi-final encounter opposite Robin Haase.

Dutchman Haase finally put an end to Damir Dzumhur's dream run in Dubai following his shock win over defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka in the opening round, and the Bosnian fell victim to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 defeat.

Read on for a roundup of all the action from Day 4 at the 2017 Dubai Tennis Championships, where Murray's crusade for a return to winning ways reached its next step.

Result	Score
Robin Haase def. Damir Dzumhur	6-2, 4-6, 6-4
Fernando Verdasco def. [4] Gael Monfils	6-3, 7-5
[1] Andy Murray def. Philipp Kohlschreiber	6-7(4), 7-6(18), 6-1
[7] Lucas Pouille def. Evgeny Donskoy	6-4, 5-7, 7-6(2)

Recap

Murray made a successful return from injury earlier this week after he managed to emerge victorious in the opening two rounds of his Dubai campaign, but the challenge posed by veteran Kohlschreiber almost proved too much on Thursday.

There was hardly any separating the two in the first set as Murray and Kohlschreiber were evenly poised in serving and return statistics, per ATP Slamtracker, but it was the latter who kept a cool head to win via tiebreaker, per The Times' Stuart Fraser:

The second set told a near-identical tale, with Murray again topping his foe in aces accumulated, but Kohlschreiber's stubbornness kept him in the bout—he saved three of four break points faced—and with a huge upset in sight.

A second tiebreak was required to separate the two in the second set, and a sensational drop shot at 9-8 down kept Murray's hopes alive in a 38-point thriller, which eventually ended 20-18 in his favour, via Tennis TV:

Kohlschreiber deserved all the credit coming his way as he pushed one of the world's fiercest competitors to the brink in portions of what proved to be an epic clash between two warriors showcasing elite levels of stamina.

But Murray's stamina—as it so often does for the Scot—ultimately proved to be the secret weapon needed to drive a wedge between the two in a climactic third set, where the 29-year-old pulled clear with a one-sided 6-1 win to progress.

He'll come up against French starlet and seventh seed Pouille in the last four after he defeated Russia's Evgeny Donskoy in Thursday's evening fixture, emerging a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2) victor.

Following the long-lasting affair between Murray and Kohlschreiber, Pouille and Donskoy didn't get under way until past midnight local time, and the ATP pointed out his record against his upcoming Scottish foe isn't exactly gleaming:

Earlier in the day, Verdasco progressed past Monfils despite the Frenchman outscoring the Spaniard in aces by a margin of 10 to one, per Flashscore.com, to set up a semi-final meeting against Haase.

As noted by Jose Morgado of Portuguese newspaper Record, there was also a good reason for tennis great Roger Federer to be glad of the result, too:

Verdasco's win over the tournament's fourth seed came as something of a shock, and he'll have a fine chance at making an appearance in the final, too, if he can defeat fellow unseeded contender Haase.

The Dutch dynamo followed up his second-round win over Tomas Berdych with a three-set win against Dzumhur, and tennis writer Jake Davies celebrated Haase's fine run of recent form:

The world no. 66 got the better of Dzumhur and prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 following a mid-match comeback attempt from the Bosnian, although it was ultimately not to be.

That result also means the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Championships are guaranteed to have one unseeded finalist, with Haase and Verdasco the underdogs hoping to prolong their winning runs.