Five-time finalist Andy Murray has added to his Australian Open legend with an heroic five-set first-round victory over Italian ace Matteo Berrettini.
The veteran father of four wound back the clock to save a match point and beat the highly-rated 13th seed 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (10-6) in a four-hour, 49-minute thriller on Tuesday.
Murray’s win was the 35-year-old’s first over a top-20 rival at a grand slam since he toppled then-world No.9 Kei Nishikori at the 2017 French Open.
“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow but right now I’m just unbelievably happy, very proud of myself,” Murray said.
“I’ve put a lot of work into the last few months with my team who are here, to give me the opportunity to perform on stadiums like this in matches like this against players like Matteo – and it paid off tonight.”
Murray’s milestone 50th Australian Open win also reversed a four-set third-round loss to Berrettini at the US Open in September, and teed up a second-round clash with either Thanasi Kokkinakis or Fabio Fognini.
“Hhe was serving unbelievable and he’s a brilliant competitor as well,” Murray said.
“He’s one of the best competitiors on the tour; he always fights right until the end.
“So I did well to get through.”
Victory, however hard earned, was nothing less than Murray deserved.
Defeat from two sets up would have been another cruel, cruel blow for the former world No.1.
With finals losses to nine-time champion Novak Djokovic in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 and to six-time winner Roger Federer in 2010, no man has endured more Melbourne Park heartbreak than Murray.
In fact, no man in grand slam history has endured five finals defeats at the same major without getting their hands on the trophy.
That the Scottish braveheart is still playing is somewhat of a tennis miracle after Murray tearfully announced he was likely to retire in 2019 after going out in the first round.
The Brit has undergone several rounds of hip surgery to keep his career somehow going.
Berrettini also became the fifth victim of the ‘Netflix curse’ – that is, the fifth player to star in the newly released ‘Break Point’ series to either withdraw from the Australian Open or suffer an early exit.
World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa and top-ranked Australians Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic were all forced out of the Open with injuries after starring in the series.
Berrettini, who is also Tomljanovic’s ex-boyfriend, mounted a brave fight-back from two-sets-to-love down but failed to complete his comeback.
The match was played under the roof at Rod Laver Arena after the Open’s heat policy was implemented as temperatures in Melbourne peaked around 37 degrees outside.
