Earlier this week Andy Murray played the second longest match of his tennis career when he beat 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini of Italy by a score of 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7, 7-6 in the first round of the 2023 Australian Open. In the headline I used the term “epic” to describe the match.
Well, if Murray’s win over Berrettini in the first round was epic, his win over Australia’s own Thanasi Kokkinakis of Adelaide would be best described as “super epic”. In five gruelling sets, Murray came back from two sets to love down to win 4-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 7-5. In all, the match took five hours and 45 minutes. It was the longest match in Murray’s career by 38 minutes. At the 2016 Davis Cup semifinals, Murray lost 6-4, 5-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro in Glasgow, Scotland, in five hours and seven minutes.
In Murray’s second round win, Murray won despite having 27 fewer aces. Kokkinakis had 37 aces and Murray had 10 aces.
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Murray will next face the 24th seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in the third round. Bautista Agut also came back from two sets to love down in his second round match. On Thursday he defeated Brandon Holt of the United States 4-6, 2-6. 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Bautista Agut has reached one grand slam semifinal in the past. That was Wimbledon in 2019. Murray meanwhile has been to 21 grand slam semifinals, but none since 2017 when he made the final four of the French Open.
All-time, Bautista Agut and Murray have won three times each. Murray won the first three meetings and Bautista Agut have won the last three. They have won one match each at a major. Murray won in the third round of Wimbledon in 2014, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Bautista Agut won in the first round of the 2019 Australian Open, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-2.
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