MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Metal hip, bloody knee and all, Andy Murray produced his biggest victory in years.
Murray built a huge lead, let it disappear completely, then needed to save a match point against Matteo Berrettini — who is nearly a full decade younger and ranked more than 50 places higher — before managing to pull out a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (10-6) triumph across more than 4 1/2 hours on Tuesday in the Australian Open’s first round.
This was three-time major champion Murray’s first defeat of a top-20 opponent at a Grand Slam tournament since 2017. That was before Murray thought he would need to retire — and indeed was given a career send-off at Melbourne Park in 2019, when he exited in the first round a year after his first hip operation.
After a second surgery inserted a metal hip, Murray decided to try to continue playing. This sort of evening was likely what he had in mind when he pressed on.
And what a performance it was, filled with the sort of grit that defined much of Murray’s time on tour, that carried him to championships at the U.S. Open in 2012 and at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 and to two Olympic singles gold medals.
He is also a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, with four losses in the final to Novak Djokovic and one to Roger Federer.
Murray finished 2016 ranked No. 1, but the Scotsman is now 35 years old and ranked No. 66.
Still, there were moments Tuesday when Murray played as he did a long time ago, diving to hit a volley before slamming to the blue court — scraping his right knee — or racing to somehow reach seemingly unreachable shots, then looking up into the stands at his coach, Ivan Lendl, and shaking a fist while yelling, “Let’s go! Come on now!”
Murray raced through the first two sets in less than 1 1/2 hours before the big-hitting, big-serving Berrettini turned things around and took the match to a fifth, even coming within one point of victory at 5-4 in that set but faltering and flubbing an easy backhand.
By beating the 13th-seeded Berrettini, who was the runner-up at Wimbledon in 2021, Murray became only the fifth man in the Open era with 50 match wins at the Australian Open, joining Djokovic, Federer, Rafael Nadal and Stefan Edberg.
They played under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena because of temperatures that soared up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) and caused suspensions of play that lasted hours in matches on smaller courts that can't be covered.
This was the most-anticipated match of the afternoon session and lasted so long it finished in the evening, most definitely living up to the hype.
It was difficult to imagine that the night session matches scheduled to follow in Laver — involving the No. 2-seeded woman, Ons Jabeur, and then nine-time champion Djokovic’s return to the Australian Open after he was deported from the country a year ago for not being vaccinated against COVID-19 — could possibly match the intensity and drama that Murray and Berrettini delivered.
Murray improved to 27-13 in five-setters over his career; Berrettini dropped to 7-2, with both losses in Australia.
And make no mistake: Murray was far better in that decisive section of the match, jumping out to leads of 5-0 and 8-3. It ended in a bit of anticlimactic fashion: Murray’s service return clipped the net cord and trickled over for a winner.
Murray next will meet Thanasi Kokkinakis or Fabio Fognini.
Other men advancing Tuesday included No. 5 Andrey Rublev, No. 8 Taylor Fritz, No. 9 Holger Rune and No. 27 Grigor Dimitrov, while winners in the women’s field included No. 4 Caroline Garcia, No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 16 Anett Kontaveit.
But Garbine Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion and the runner-up at Melbourne Park in 2020, lost her fifth consecutive match to start the year, eliminated 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-1 by Elise Mertens.
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Associated Press freelancer Simon Cambers contributed to this report.
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Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
