Andy Murray wins an epic first round match at the Australian Open

Andy Murray (Carine Theron, Wikimedia Commons)

Heading into the 2023 Australian Open one might have wondered who might step with a magnificent performance now that Roger Federer has retired. The answer was Andy Murray of Great Britain, the three-time grand slam champion. The 2012 United States Open champion, and 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champion came through with an amazing five-set win over the 13th seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7, 7-6.

This was an historic win for Murray, who is now 35 years of age. The Glasgow native who was part of tennis’s big four a decade ago, won his 50th career match at the Australian Open, and won the 40th fifth set match he has played in his career.

The match lasted four hours and 49 minutes, but was not the longest in Murray’s career. At the 2016 Davis Cup semifinals in Murray’s birthplace of Glasgow, Scotland, Murray lost to 2009 United States Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, in five hours and seven minutes.

It should be noted that even though Murray has never won the Australian Open in his career, he has made an impressive five Australian Open finals. The championship berths came in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. The first time Murray lost to Roger Federer, and the next four times he lost to Serbian star Novak Djokovic.

Three more Australians were victorious on Day 2 action. In ladies’s play, wildcard Kim Burrell of Gold Coast beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. Meanwhile in men’s play, wildcard Alexei Popyrin of Sydney defeated Chun-Hsin Tseng of Taiwan 4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-1, and 22nd seed Alex De Minaur of Sydney beat Yu Hsiou Hsu of Taiwan 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. One other seeded player lost on Tuesday. In men’s action, Miomir Kecmanovic, the 26th ranked player from Serbia, was beaten 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 by Nicolas Jarry of Chile.

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