Murray outlasts Haas in 3 sets

Bloodied right knee, twisted left ankle, blistered foot and sore hip.

It certainly sounded like the losing end of a quarterfinal at the Pacific Life Open or worse yet, the victim of an accident. Instead, it was a short description of the tournament’s last semifinalist, 13th-seeded Andy Murray.

Murray seemed to be fast approaching the unofficial tour record for most injuries in a match on his way to beating ninth-seeded Tommy Haas, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8), in the quarterfinals Friday night at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. He saved two match points in the tiebreaker in what was the match of the tournament.

The Scottish teenager survived a frightening-looking tumble in the third game of the second set, needing a nine-minute injury timeout to have his left ankle taped. Murray went airborne for a forehand volley, came down and started to go over on his left ankle. But he did not go over completely and almost jumped into the roll.

That most likely saved him from a serious injury. Haas quickly came over to Murray’s side to see if he was OK and stood there as a trainer worked on the ankle. Later, Haas himself had his own issues for what looked like an injured right thigh late in the third set.

“It was obviously pretty eventful,” Murray said. “I’m more happy about my ankle not being too bad. ... I’m just happy I won. It took a while for it to sink in because there were so many ups and downs. At one point, I didn’t think I was going to be able to play.”

Murray will next play Novak Djokovic, seeded No. 12, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over No. 14 David Ferrer.

The several chapters of drama between Haas and Murray couldn’t have served as more of a contrast to the earlier matches. Maybe the heat had something to do with it. Though Haas-Murray started in toasty weather, about 90 degrees, it was nothing like the sun-baked conditions endured by the others in the afternoon, when the temperature was about 100 degrees.

“I was thinking so much, ‘When the shade gonna come? When the shade?’ ” second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova said.

This came from a winner. Kuznetsova beat surprise semifinalist Sybille Bammer, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1, in 2 hours 40 minutes.

In today’s final, she will play No. 14 Daniela Hantuchova, who beat No. 12 Li Na, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, in an earlier semifinal.

Kuznetsova is 5-2 against Hantuchova. They played in the semifinals at Doha about two weeks ago, with Kuznetsova winning 6-4, 6-2. For Hantuchova, Indian Wells was supposed to have been a steppingstone, not a plateau. In 2002, she beat Martina Hingis in the final, and it remains her lone title.

“Definitely there is something very special about this place for me,” Hantuchova said.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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Schedule

Today’s featured matches at the Pacific Life Open:

MEN’S SEMIFINAL (Starting at noon)

Andy Roddick, U.S.

vs. Rafael Nadal, Spain.

WOMEN’S FINAL (Not before 2 p.m.)

Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, vs.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia.

MEN’S SEMIFINAL (Not before 4:30 p.m.)

Novak Djokovic, Serbia, vs.

Andy Murray, Scotland.