Andy Murray Earns 500th Career Victory

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Andy Murray won his 500th career game when he beat Kevin Anderson in the Miami Open on March 31.

Andy Murray won his 500th career game when he beat Kevin Anderson in the Miami Open on March 31.

Andy Murray is now a member of the 500-win club.

Murray achieved the feat after he beat South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the fourth round of the Miami Open on March 31, per Steve Gorten of the tournament’s official website.

Murray becomes “the ninth active player on the ATP Tour, and 46th in the Open Era, with 500 career wins,” per Gorten.

What’s also impressive is the fact Murray reached that many wins in “just under 10 years,” per BBC News. He made his pro debut in April 2005.

The 27-year-old Murray told MiamiOpen.com on Tuesday his latest feat should be the beginning of even getter things to come:

“There has not been loads of players that have done it, so it’s nice for me. The fact that it happened here as well. It’s just fitting because I have spent so much time training here and working to get better.

Andy Murray HAS his cake and eats it after joining ‘500 Club’ http://t.co/zqTs7Dn77v pic.twitter.com/waYUaWUOlL— Telegraph Sport (@TelegraphSport) March 31, 2015

“But I hope for me this isn’t the end and I can keep trying to progress. You know, with each win, you get closer and closer to going past a great player. The people that are ahead of me have all done pretty amazing things in the sport, so that’s what nice about it. And it feels like it gives me motivation as well.

“I don’t know why, but getting to 500 gives me motivation to go on and try and win more. When you look at the list of players and the wins that certain guys have got, it gives you something to aim at.”

Murray told BBC News he’s aiming for 800 to 900 career wins:

“There’s different ways of judging the success of someone’s career, but winning 800-900 matches is something that’s happened very rarely and a difficult thing to do–so it gives you something to aim at.”

Murray has been on a roll in 2015. He will make his fourth quarterfinals appearance this year when he faces Austria’s Dominic Thiem, who dispatched France’s Adrian Mannarino, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-5 on March 31, per Gorten.

Murray hopes to make his fourth Miami Open finals appearance. Gorten notes he beat Novak Djokovic in 2009 and David Ferrer in 2013 for his two Miami Open titles. He lost to Djokovic in the 2012 final.

According to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Christy Cabrera Chirinos, Djokovic, the No.1-ranked player in the world, had to fend off Urkaine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov in three sets, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0, to advance in the 2015 Miami Open.

.@andy_murray becomes 9th active player to record 500 wins with 64 36 63 win vs Anderson. More http://t.co/NhQNyryTol pic.twitter.com/WnNoAAnW6z— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) March 31, 2015

In another Miami Open development, the Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych made the final eight of the tourney after France’s Gael Monfils fell and injured his hip, according to ESPN.co.uk. Berdych had been leading, 6-3, 6-2, when Monfils bruised his hip.

Monfils told ESPN.co.uk he hopes to bounce back in his next scheduled tourney in Houston, Tex.

Murray set a record for Open Era wins by a British male tennis player in early March when he edged Feliciano Lopez at Indian Wells. The victory gave Murray 497 career wins to surpass Tim Henman’s previous record, per BBC News.

Should Murray win the 2015 Miami Open, it will be a double victory for him. He is set to marry his fiancee Kim Sears in Dunblane on April 11. He is even thinking about playing in the Monte Carlo Open the week after, per The Daily Mail’s Mike Dickson.

Murray, the fourth-ranked player in the world, said he and Sears are putting off their honeymoon plans until the end of the year. He stressed to Dickson on March 24 he knows how to draw the line between this professional and personal life:

“Tennis is important but we also have lives to live as well. When I’m on the court I’m not thinking,’I’m getting married in a few weeks’ but back at the apartment there’s time to do that. I can concentrate on both.

“As long as it’s not in the forefront of my mind when I’m training then it’s fine. It hasn’t been a problem for me yet and I don’t see it as an issue.”