LONDON, Feb 26 — Andy Murray was on the verge of retirement in 2019 due to a niggling hip issue and faced an uncertain future after a second surgery the following year, but the former world number one is now targeting 800 career wins after a run to the Doha final.

The 35-year-old fell to a 6-4 6-4 defeat by Daniil Medvedev in the Qatar Open final yesterday in only his fourth ATP title clash since returning to the tour.

But the Scot said that he still had a lot to achieve despite playing with a partly metal hip.

"It’s important to have goals and targets and some of those goals are different to what they were 5-10 years ago. But I have ambitions of winning tournaments and having deep runs in majors, winning a certain number of matches in my career,” Murray said.

"I’d like to try to get to 800 match wins, which I think I’m like 75 (77) away from. There are little things that you can do to keep yourself motivated. Part of it is seeing how far I can go with the physical limitation I have.”

Murray played four straight three-set matches in Doha and showed his battling qualities in the semi-final by saving five match points against Jiri Lehecka on Friday to reach his 71st ATP final.

"I didn’t know how much I was going to be able to play or if I’d be able to compete at this level again,” three-times Grand Slam champion Murray added.

"So now that I know that I’m able to, I want to see how far that can go, because it’s a challenge and something I’m proud of the results that I’m having with a large physical limitation.”

Murray will next travel to the Dubai championships which begin tomorrow. — Reuters