Murray rolls back the years at AO
Brit beats Italian Berrettini in five sets
ANDY Murray rolled back the years with an epic five-set win over Matteo Berrettini in the opening round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Bidding to beat a top 20 player at a Grand Slam for the first time since his hip problems began in 2017, Murray won the opening two sets before Berrettini fought back to level in a dramatic fourth-set tie-break.
The Italian 13th seed created a match point in the 10th game of the deciding set but dumped a simple backhand into the net with the court wide open and Murray held on to force a deciding tie-break.
A gruelling first point won by the Scot set the tone and Murray, who moved superbly, was able to celebrate a stunning 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (9-7), 7-6 (10-6) victory after four hours and 49 minutes.
While such matches would have usually been contested in later rounds in his heyday, this will surely mean almost as much four years after the tearful press conference at Melbourne Park that seemed to herald the end of his career.
“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow but right now I’m just unbelievably
happy and very proud of myself,” he said.
“I’ve put a lot of work into the last three months with my team, to give me the opportunity to perform in stadiums like this and matches like this and it paid off tonight.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever played one of those 10-point tie-breakers and it’s a bit different. He came back really strong and I was a bit lucky at the end with the net-cord.
“He was serving unbelievably and he’s a brilliant competitor as well, he always fights right to the end. I did well to get through.”
Zverev battles into 2nd round Germany’s Alexander Zverev had his struggles in the Australian Open first round before beating Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
The Olympic champion 25, reached the second round for the seventh time in a row in Melbourne and was the first German man to make it past the first round at this year’s opening Grand Slam tournament.
Seven and a half months after his serious foot injury in the French Open semi-final, Zverev’s lack of match practice was clearly noticeable.
After a weak first set, the Hamburg player improved on the hard court, but the world number 13 was broken in the third set, which brought clay court specialist Varillas back into the match.
Errors and a lack of concentration dogged Zverev but he fought back and the 2020 Australian Open semi-finalist converted his second match point after over four hours.