Sports Andy Murray Inches Closer To Australia Open Title

World number two, Andy Murray, has progressed to the fourth round of the 2016 Australia Open, after beating a strong spirited Portugal's Joao on Saturday.

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The 28-year old Briton defeated the number 32 seed 6-2 3-6 6-2 6-2 in a fiercely contested game, the game which Murray comfortable took the first set but caved in for the Portuguese caught up with him.

Murray will now face Australia's Bernard Tomic, seeded 16th, hopefully his father-in-law, Nigel Sears would have recovered after news broke that the old man collapsed at the Rod Laver Arena.

Sears coaches Ana Ivanovic and was watching her match against Madison Keys. Murray's brother Jamie told reporters that the 58-year-old, who has been taken to hospital for tests, was "conscious, talking and sitting up".

Sears' daughter Kim is not in Melbourne in support of her husband Murray as she awaits the birth of their first child in a few weeks.

Murray, unaware of what was happening, went from dominating the opening set to being broken in the first game of the second, with Sousa going on to level.

But the Scot raised his game to secure what was in the end a comfortable victory, breaking Sousa's serve twice again in the fourth and final set.

Immediately after the match Murray left with his mother Judy to visit his father-in-law in hospital, with his post-match news conference cancelled.

"It was tricky. I didn't feel I was in a great rhythm and wasn't hitting the ball cleanly at the start. He was hitting the ball great, close to the lines, and making me do a lot of running," he said in a statement released through tournament organisers.

"Once I started to hit the ball a little bit cleaner towards the end of the match I was able to get him in his backhand corner and dictate more of the points.

"I just tried to keep fighting. At the end I was actually hitting the ball well and felt better at the end. It was good to get through that one." BBC
 
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