MELBOURNE: Andy Murray stunned Italian 13th seed Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday, saving a match point to prevail over five grueling sets and book a spot in the Australian Open second round.
The three-time Grand Slam champion has battled major hip and abdominal injuries for half a decade but declared himself free of pain and fired up before the tournament.
His renowned grit was on full display in toppling the Italian 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (10/6) in 4hrs 49mins under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena due to extreme heat.
It was a huge win for the 35-year-old Briton, now ranked 66, to knock out last year’s semi-finalist for a landmark 50th match-win at the season-opening Grand Slam.
“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow, but right now I’m unbelievably happy and proud of myself,” said Murray, a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park.
Victory also brought up his 50th Australian Open match-win, becoming only the fifth man in the Open Era to achieve the feat alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stefan Edberg.
