Australian Open: 3-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray overcomes Matteo Berrettini in five-setter

The three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray overcame Matteo Berrettini of Italy in a five-setter to storm into the second round of the Australian Open 2023 on Tuesday.

Murray, the five-time finalist at the Australian Open, had feared four years ago that the 2019 edition would be his last. But the Scottish player pulled off a rollercoaster marathon first-round win in the 2023 tournament. With the win, Murray has earned his first Top 20 win at a Grand Slam in more than four years.

“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow, but right now I’m just unbelievably happy, very proud of myself,” Murray said in an on-court interview. “I’ve put a lot of work into the past few months with my team here to give me the opportunity to perform on stadiums like this and in matches like this against players like Matteo, and it paid off tonight.”

Murray started off with less trouble, going 2-0 up against Berrettini. The Italian Berrettini had to dig deep to pull one back and keep the match alive 2-1.

In the fourth set, Berrettini prevailed over Murray in the tie-break to force a decider, at 2-2. However, Murray clinched the fifth-set tie-break to secure a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6(7)-7(9), 7(10)-6(6) win in a match that lasted four hours and 49 minutes.

Murray will face either Fabio Fognini or Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever played one of those 10-point tie-breaks. It’s a bit different. When you’re up 6/1, or 7/1 or whatever, it feels like you’re still quite far away,” Murray said. “He came back really strong and I was just a bit lucky at the end with the net cord.”

“I think at the end some of the tennis was really good. It felt like that playing, I don’t know what it looked like,” he continued. “He was serving unbelievable and he’s a brilliant competitor as well, one of the best competitors on the Tour. He always fights right to the end, so I did well to get through.”