BREAKING NEWS: Murray rolls back years with a STUNNING five-set win
Andy Murray #AndyMurray
On the court where he has suffered so much heartbreak, Andy Murray scored one of the most extraordinary wins of his career when he outlasted Matteo Berrettini in a thrilling Australian Open first round.
The Rod Laver Arena, on which he had lost five Melbourne finals, rose to acclaim the 35-year-old Scot after he held his nerve to edge the 2021 Wimbledon finalist 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-7 7-6 in four hours and 49 minutes.
The Italian was the superior player for the last three sets, but Murray held his nerve in the sudden death ‘Champions’ tiebreak, to take it 10-6. He will play Fabio Fognini or Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Andy Murray looked back to somewhere near his best in beating Matteo Berrettini
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This was Murray’s best performance at a Grand Slam since the onset of his hip problems, which now sees a lump of metal in the affected area. He was always ahead in the tiebreak, which saw him race to a 5-0 lead.
Berrettini, powered by 31 aces, came back at him to make it 8-6, but Murray held on again and clinched it with a slightly fortunate net cord.
‘I’ll be feeling tonight but I’m unbleivably proud and happy. It’s the first time I have ever played a first to ten tiebreak. He came back really strong and I got a bit lucky at the end,’ said Murray. ‘He was serving brilliantly and he’s a great competitor so I did well to get through.
Dan Evans went through to the second round when he defeated Facundo Bagnis of Argentina 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-4 to set up a meeting with Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
While Evans had been taken off the court at two sets to one up on Bagnis due to the heat, there were no such worries for Murray, who would be playing under the roof of the Rod Laver Arena.
Murray looked exhausted following four hours and 49 minutes of gruelling action
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Its closing slightly slows the conditions, which was marginally helpful in taking a bit of sting from the huge Berrettini combination of serve and forehand.
Returning aggressively and attacking the backhand, Murray sped away at the start and took advantage of some distinctly ropey play from the number thirteen seed.
The Scot was impressively sharp on break points, and there was only one player in it when he went two sets ahead, turning back the clock on a court where he has so much history, some of it heartbreak in the five finals he has lost.
At 2-2 in the third the match turned when Murray could not convert two break points that would have taken him to 3-1. He then played a sloppy service game to be broken, becoming notably more frustrated with his box.
There were no break points at all in the fourth set, with the now-improved Berrettini pulling out big serves when he needed to, such as at 5-6 30-30. Such was the drama that even Ivan Lendl could be seen shouting from the support box, a rare sight indeed.
The tiebreak was a nerve-shredding affair, which saw Murray thread a brilliant forehand to keep himself in it at 4-5. At 6-6 Murray dived at the net to meet the Italian’s drive, only to volley it fractionally beyond the baseline. Berrettini sealed it at the third time of asking, 9-7.
With his knee gashed, Murray was forced to cling on for dear life in the decider with the Italian starting to boom down service winners and aces with monotonous regularity.
At 4-5 Berrettini should have clinched his first match point, but made an embarrassing hash of a backhand with Murray stranded, and sent it into the net. Somehow he dragged it into a tiebreak.
