Andy Murray vs. Steve Johnson: Score and Reaction from 2016 Olympics

Great Britain's Andy Murray punched his ticket to the 2016 Summer Olympics semifinals with a thrilling 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 victory Friday over the United States' Steve Johnson.

Murray, who narrowly escaped his third-round encounter against Italy's Fabio Fognini, quickly pounced on the out-of-sorts American in the early going. The defending gold medalist's form dropped during the middle portion of the match, however, forcing him to survive another long, three-set battle.

Meanwhile, Johnson came close to a memorable comeback but failed to capitalize on the biggest match of his singles career. He's never advanced beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam event but took full advantage of a favorable draw to move within one victory of the medal round in Rio.

The 26-year-old California native talked before the match about trying to switch things up against Murray after a straight-sets loss last year in the Shanghai Rolex Masters, per Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press.

"Any given day, you can beat anybody," Johnson said Thursday. "So I'll go out there with a different game plan and the right mindset."

Whatever that initial plan of attack was, it failed miserably in the first set. He racked up nine unforced errors with just three winners and spent a lot of time during the changeovers discussing the challenge system with the umpire.

Eleanor Crooks of the Press Association noted he even received a warning:

Beating Murray is a difficult task even when clicking on all cylinders. So it's no surprise Johnson struggled to stay competitive while spraying forehands and worrying about whether or not a call wrongly went against him in the middle of the set.

The Scottish superstar never let him get a glimmer of hope en route to the first-set shutout. Stuart Fraser of the Daily Mail provided more information about the lopsided start:

Johnson might have caught Murray a little off guard early in the second set. He looked prepared to cash in his chips late in the first, but he came out ripping shots off both wings after the break and scored an immediate break to reignite his medal hopes.

The No. 2 seed got a couple of looks to get back on serve, including a break point in Johnson's third service game, but the American stood tall. He held five straight times after the early break to level the match at one set apiece.

Simon Briggs of the Telegraph noted Murray's tendency to let matches drag on:

While the champion of the London Games often lets his opponents hang around, he usually finds a way to win in the end. And that's what happened in the third set.

Johnson continued to put up a gamely fight. He even grabbed a momentary advantage with a break of Murray in the seventh game of the deciding set, but the Scot broke right back. Both players held out from there to force a tiebreak.

In the end, Murray rose to the occasion in the clutch, winning the breaker, 7-2, to advance.

As David Law of BT Sport discussed, all that matters is getting the win, even if it's a winding road to get there:

Looking ahead, Johnson still has a chance to earn an Olympic medal during Friday's action. He's set to team with Jack Sock as the Americans take on their northern neighbors, Canada's Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil, in the men's doubles bronze-medal match.

Murray is alive in mixed doubles with Heather Watson and will return to the court later Friday for the quarterfinals against Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna of India. In singles, he awaits the winner between Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils in the semifinals.

All match statistics courtesy of the Olympics' official site.