Cincinnati Masters: Andy Murray digs deep to beat Grigor Dimitrov in round three

Andy Murray was given a stern test of his hard court credentials during the third round of the Cincinnati Masters on 20 August, with the British number one having to show dogged determination to dismiss the threat of Grigor Dimitrov.

With the tie level at one set apiece, Murray was facing elimination at 5-2 behind in the third. However, as we saw with his victory over Gilles Simon in the decisive singles match during Great Britain's Davis Cup quarter-final tie against France, the 2013 Wimbledon champion held his nerve once more to win 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 in three hours.

"If you want to win the big competitions, you'll have to come through difficult situations," he said after his latest win. "Last year, I didn't come through enough of them. I lost a lot of matches from winning positions, and this year I managed to turn that around, which was very positive."

Dimitrov beat Lukas Rosol and Vasek Pospisil to book his place against Murray and the world number 17 was relatively pleased with the manner of his performance, as well as his impressive conditioning.

He said: "I was happy with the way I played at least, but that's about it. I had too many opportunities. That's the only thing. Everything else felt pretty good. The body held up well for three hours, so good things ahead."

Murray will face Richard Gasquet next after he beat defending US Open champion Marin Cilic 7-5, 6-3. Djokovic and eighth seed Rafael Nadal are also safely through, following victories over David Goffin and Feliciano Lopez respectively.

Roger Federer only dropped two games while easing past Kevin Anderson, meanwhile, and Tomas Berdych enjoyed a similarly straightforward time against Tommy Robredo. Stan Wawrinka and qualifier Alexandr Dolgopolov are also through at the expenses of Ivo Karlovic and Jerzy Janowicz.