Andy Murray survives marathon tiebreaker at Dubai

Top-seeded Andy Murray survived a 31-minute, six-second tiebreaker en route to holding off Philipp Kohlschreiber on Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships at United Arab Emirates.

Murray won the marathon tiebreaker 20-18 as part of his 6-7 (4), 7-6 (18), 6-1 victory.

"I have never played a tiebreak that long ever," Murray said. "I'll probably never play another one like that again.

"I mean, I have been playing on the tour for 11, 12 years now, and nothing's been close to that."

Murray will meet seventh-seeded Lucas Pouille of France in the semifinals. Pouille posted a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2) victory over Evgeny Donskoy, a Russian qualifier.

The 38-point tiebreaker left Murray, the World No. 1, shaking his head over the quality of the battle.

"There was definitely some unbelievable points in that second-set tiebreak," the British star said. "We both missed a couple of shots, but in general, I think the level was extremely high.

"It's a special match to win because of how it went."

Kohlschreiber dropped to 0-10 all-time against World No. 1 players. But the German felt good about his effort in the two-hour, 55-minute match.

"Losing is always disappointing, but I'm not sad," Kohlschreiber said. "I played great tennis, one of my best matches. We both played almost the best tennis we can play."

Pouille was pushed to a third-set tiebreaker by Donskoy, who made his presence known earlier this week by upsetting third-seeded Roger Federer.

Fernando Verdasco of Spain and Robin Haase of The Netherlands will face off in the other semifinal.

Verdasco eliminated fourth-seeded Gael Monfils of France 6-3, 7-5 to advance. Verdasco was pitted against Monfils for the first time since 2013.

"I tried to be aggressive but not make too many unforced errors," Verdasco said afterward. "He's one of the best defenders in the game."

Haase moved on with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia.