Andy Murray saved seven match points before beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (4), 7-6 (18), 6-1 to reach the Dubai Tennis Championships semifinals on Thursday.
The second-set tiebreaker — 31 minutes, 6 seconds long - produced all the high-intensity drama tennis can offer, featuring the seven match points for Kohlschreiber before Murray prevailed on an eighth set point.
"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."
The power, angles, and crafty shot-making were so all-consuming in that tiebreaker that the players, as well as umpire Renaud lichtenstein, neglected to realize there was meant to be a change of ends at 15-15, which took place at 16-16 instead. "There was definitely some unbelievable points in that second-set tiebreak," Murray said.
Earlier, former top-10 star Fernando Verdasco upset fourth-seeded Gael Monfils 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Bopanna-Matkowski in final
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Polish partner Marcin Matkowski reached the men's doubles finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after beating leander Paes and Guillermo Garcia-lopez 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 on Friday.