Murray rallies past Purcell, setting round of 16 clash with Sinner in Toronto

Andy Murray advanced to the last 16 of the Toronto Masters by edging out Australian qualifier Max Purcell 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-5 at the Aviva Centre on Wednesday night.

Murray, ranked No 40, will play No 7 seed Jannik Sinner next.

Murray and Sinner have split their two previous meetings, with Murray winning in Stockholm in 2021 and Sinner returning the favour in Dubai in 2022.

Three-time Grand Slam champion and former world No 1 Murray improves to 12-11 on the season, after rallying back from 4-2 down in the final set to see the 25-year-old world No 78 from Sydney.

MURRAY MANIA 😱

The Brit recovers from 4-2 down in the 3rd set to reach R3 7-6 3-6 7-5!#NBO23 pic.twitter.com/3gDux4Nhx3

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 10, 2023

The win moves Murray, who needed two hours and 47 minutes to complete his victory, up to No 36 in the ATP live rankings.

Ahead of his victory, Andy Murray defeated Italian Lorenzo Sonego (7-6 (3), 6-0).

Purcell, ranked No 78, won against Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 10 seed (6-4, 6-4) in the previous round of the Rogers Cup.

Toronto Masters, other second-round results (Aviva Centre, hard, USD 6.600.000, most recent results first):

• Marcos Giron vs. Holger Rune
• Sebastian Korda vs. Aleksandar Vukic: thursday
• Tommy Paul vs. Francisco Cerundolo: wednesday
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) beat Ben Shelton: 6-3, 7-6 (3)
• Jannik Sinner beat Matteo Berrettini: 6-4, 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Alexander Zverev (13): 6-1, 6-2
• Alex De Minaur beat Gabriel Diallo (WC): 6-4, 7-5
• Gael Monfils beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (4): 6-4, 6-3
• Daniil Medvedev (2) beat Matteo Arnaldi (Q): 6-2, 7-5
• Lorenzo Musetti (16) beat Thanasi Kokkinakis (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Hubert Hurkacz (15) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 5-7, 6-3, 6-0
• Milos Raonic (WC) beat Taro Daniel (Q): 6-4, 6-3
• Taylor Fritz (8) beat Ugo Humbert: 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Andrey Rublev (6): 6-4, 6-3
• Casper Ruud (3) beat Jiri Lehecka: 7-6 (6), 6-4