ANDY: I’M ON RIGHT TRACK
ANDY MURRAY claimed he was “going in the right direction” after his biggest win since hip surgery.
The former world No.1 showed his old grit to beat world No.13 Matteo Berrettini 7-6 7-6 at the China Open in Beijing.
The Scot, who went under the knife for the second time in January, fought back from a break down in each set – and saved two points in the second-set tie break – to claim his highest-ranked scalp since last September.
Murray lost his first two singles matches in his latest comeback and then played a Challenger Tour event in Mallorca.
But the double Olympic champion, 32, recorded his first ATP Tour-level win since January in Zhuhai last week.
And he followed that up yesterday by claiming a two-hour victory over US Open semi-finalist Berrettini, which will see him climb from world No.503 to No.366.
He said: “It was a tight match and I thought I did pretty well. Hopefully, I can have a good run here. That was a good start.
“When I came back I didn’t really feel like I was playing at a great level.
“Whereas even last week (in Zhuhai), although I lost in the second round, I felt like I was playing tour-level tennis. It was a big step for me. I think things are going in the right direction.
“Now I just need to try to get the matches, get them consistently, so that I’m used to playing three, four matches in a week.
“Right now, at this level, I don’t know if I’m ready to do that or not.
“So the more I can get through these sort of matches, I will get there a bit quicker.
“I feel like the progress has been consistent and, hopefully, that keeps going through until the end of the year.”
World No.1 Novak Djokovic won his first match since pulling out of the US Open with a shoulder injury when he beat qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4 6-2 in the first round of the Japan Open.