Andy Murray wins through to the semi-finals of Challenger event in Italy

Andy Murray has defeated Blaz Rola in straight sets in the quarter-finals of the Biella Challenger Indoor event in Italy.

Andy Murray is through to the semi-finals in Biella, Northern Italy.

The Scot won 6-4, 7-6 to book his place in the semi-finals.

Murray should have been competing at the Australian Open but he was not allowed to travel to Melbourne after testing positive for Covid-19 and was then unable to find a “workable quarantine” to play at the grand slam after recovering.

Therefore he headed to northern Italy where, as top seed and watched by a handful of people at the Palasport Biella, he saw off the Slovenian Rola.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the former world No 1 who had a protracted argument with the umpire over a line call towards the end of the second set.

Murray eventually prevailed in the match after a lengthy tie break and will now meet Mathias Bourgue of France in the semi-final on Saturday.

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