Andy Murray shocked Italian thirteenth seed Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday, saving a match level to prevail over 5 gruelling units and guide a spot within the Australian Open second spherical. The three-time Grand Slam champion has battled main hip and belly accidents for half a decade however declared himself freed from ache and fired up earlier than the event. His famend grit was on full show in toppling the Italian 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (10/6) in 4hrs 49mins underneath a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena on account of excessive warmth.

It was an enormous win for the 35-year-old Briton, now ranked 66, to knock out final yr’s semi-finalist for a landmark fiftieth match-win on 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,” mentioned Murray, a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park.

“I’ve put a lot of work into the last few months with my team to give me this opportunity to perform on stadiums like this, in matches like this and against players like Matteo and it paid off tonight.”

It was Murray’s first victory over a high 20 participant at a Grand Slam since defeating ninth-ranked Kei Nishikori within the quarter-finals of the 2017 French Open.

Victory additionally introduced up his fiftieth Australian Open match-win, turning into solely the fifth man within the Open Era to realize the feat alongside Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stefan Edberg.

“I think some of the tennis at the end was really good, it felt like that playing,” he mentioned.

“He’s a brilliant competitor, one of the best on tour, he always fights to the end and I did well to get through.”

Coached by Ivan Lendl, who received the Melbourne Park title in 1989 and 1990, Murray broke as soon as within the first set and twice within the second because the Italian struggled on his second serve whereas making a slew of unforced errors.

But Berrettini rallied within the third set with a break to maneuver 3-2 clear and helped by six aces took it to a fourth set.

Nothing separated them and it went to a seesawing tiebreak that the Italian received on his third set level when Murray despatched a forehand lengthy.

Berrettini earned a match level 5-4 within the fifth, however netted a simple half-volley to waste the chance and it once more went to a tiebreak the place an early break for Murray gave him the sting and he clung on.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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