Andy Murray reaches Rothesay Open semifinals via Dominic Stricker

After Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson all made it to the quarterfinals of the women’s competition, Murray defeated Dominic Stricker 7-6(2), 7-5 to secure his eighth straight win.

The 36-year-old is aiming to win his second consecutive title on the second-tier Challenger Tour after triumphing in Surbiton last week and still not dropping a set in Nottingham.

In his on-pitch interview, he said of the home win: “Obviously this week was great. A few weeks ago we heard that British tennis was not doing well. Things change a lot from week to week.

“You just want all the players to reach their potential and make sure everyone is working hard.

“Not everyone is going to win Wimbledon and Grand Slams, but you just want to make sure everyone is making the most of this great opportunity to play tennis for a living.”

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“This week has obviously been brilliant, the women have done extremely well and hopefully that will continue throughout the year.” It should be a fun weekend for British tennis fans.”

He didn’t have everything on his side against the 20-year-old Swiss Stricker as neither player was able to score a break ball in the opening set.

Murray played a good tie-breaker to take the lead, clenching his fist and sitting in his chair, but it was Stricker who made the first move in the second set.

The eighth-seeded player used his third chance to break to make it 3-1, but Murray reacted immediately and Stricker took a medical break to treat his back.

With the clock ticking past 8pm, Murray was pushing for another break and finally made it when Stricker’s backhand went wide to give his opponent a chance to serve for the match – and the Scot made no mistake.

Murray, who next meets Portugal’s Nuno Borges, is confident he’s on the right track: “It was a really, really close game today against one of the best young players in the world.”

“He’s got a really good game, great shots from behind but also really nice touch-ups at net.

“I’m really glad I got through that because it was really close. It’s the best I’ve played in the last two weeks in terms of how I hit the ball and everything. It was really positive.”