Third seed Andy Murray has recovered from an early setback to beat Dominic Thiem 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Miami Open where he will face Tomas Berdych.

Eighth seed Berdych defeated Argentine Juan Monaco 6-3, 6-4 in their quarter-final to set up a re-match of their tense and at times acrimonious Australian Open semi-final, which Murray won in four sets.

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Murray’s 501st career win was far from easy as the 21-year-old Thiem, ranked 52nd in the world, used an impressive backhand and some entertaining tennis to take the first set.

But after Murray, far from his best, forced a deciding set, he took firm control after earning a break at the end of a long fourth game to go up 3-1.

“At the beginning of the match I didn’t return well, especially returning his first serve,” Murray said.

That put me in sort of a defensive position a lot when he was serving. I ended up doing quite a lot of running there.

“In the second set I went up and I was creating quite a lot of opportunities, which was good, but I was just not quite finding the right shot.

Monaco, backed by a large Argentine support, put up a strong fight in the second set until Berdych broke for a 5-4 lead.

“It was a very tough one, he played very fast and pushed me every ball. I am really happy I found a way through,” Berdych said.

Friday’s (AEDT) other quarter-finals will see top seed Novak Djokovic up against Spain’s David Ferrer and Japan’s fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori against American John Isner.

– Reuters