In a season where wins have been extremely hard to come by, Andy Murray was rewarded for his perseverance in a brutal first-round match at the Miami Open as he recovered from a set down to outlast Matteo Berrettini 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The victory was only Murray’s fourth of the year and it sets up a second-round encounter with Tomás Martín Etcheverry, the 29th seed, who consigned the Briton to a straight-sets defeat in the first round of the Australian Open.
For more than an hour, Berrettini outplayed his opponent by serving extremely well, eviscerating his forehand and peppering Murray with drop shots as he took the first set. But Murray persisted and from early in the second set he began to hit his spots on his serve while reading Berrettini’s own delivery increasingly well. He broke the Italian’s serve for the first time to lead 4-2 in set two.
As he was standing on the baseline preparing to serve while trailing 2-5, Berrettini lost his balance, staggering to his right and nearly falling down before complaining of dizziness. He was quickly seen by the doctor and physio but despite being OK to resume he failed to recapture his earlier level of play.
Although Murray made life difficult for himself against an ailing opponent, chastising his own play throughout the final set, and Berrettini showed resilience late on, the Briton held on to close out the victory. Afterwards the 36-year-old signed the TV camera lens without hesitation: “Life in the old dog yet!”
Asked by Laura Robson of Sky Sports Tennis about his tendency to criticise himself on-court, which on Wednesday included loud, cartoonish laughter after his unforced errors, Murray said: “If I’m laughing that’s not OK. If I’m shouting it’s not OK. If I’m flat like I was in Australia, that’s not OK.
“So it’s very hard for me to get the balance right. I’m very different on the court. I’m not a robot. I’m a bit odd, a bit strange. But I play better when I’m like that.”
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While Murray celebrated a much-needed win, Berrettini’s difficulties continue. Amid a series of injuries over the last two years, he has been off the tour for seven months after a recurring abdominal injury last year. Having briefly fallen out of the top 150 this month, Berrettini returned to competition just last week, reaching the final of an ATP Challenger event in Phoenix.
Earlier on Wednesday, Jack Draper overpowered Taro Daniel of Japan in two clinical sets to reach the second round with an excellent 6-3, 6-2 win.