The Peninsula
Former World No.1 and three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray was at his vintage best yesterday as the Briton staged a brilliant fightback to register a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) win over Lorenzo Sonego and reach the last 16 stage of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Wild Card entrant ‘Sir’ Murray, a two-time champion in Doha, yesterday saved three match points from 4-5, 15/40 on his own serve in the deciding set before he trailed 0-3 in the deciding tie-break in a two-hour and 30-minute battle against the Italian at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex.
“It was really tough. We (have) never played against each other before or practice with each other. So, yeah, I didn’t know exactly how the match was going to go and took a while to get used to his game,” Murray said after the win that thrilled a decent crowed at the centre court under chilly conditions.
“He’s a very aggressive player and takes a lot of chances, plays high risk tennis. Yeah, he rolled the dice at the end and thought it looked like he had the momentum. And then thankfully the mid part of that tiebreak, he made a couple of mistakes and I managed to turn it around.”
“I appreciate everyone for coming out to support. I know it’s a work day and it’s late and it’s quite cold, but we all the players really appreciate it when the fans come out and create an atmosphere like that at the end. It helps us produce our best tennis. And yeah, really enjoy being back on the court here,” Murray, who lifted the Golden Falcon Trophy in 2008 and 2009, said.
Blocking the 35-year-old’s path to the quarter-finals will be fourth seed Alexander Zverev and the veteran former “Big Four” member knows it won’t be easy.
“I mean, you know, he was obviously one of the top players in the world and he had a bad injury at the French Open last year and has just coming back from that. So, yeah, he’s going to be improving every week just now. He’s not quite yet back at the level that he was in the middle of last year. But, you know, injuries like he had take time. So, yeah, it will be another great match. Hopefully I can keep building on this one,” an optimistic Murray, who finished as runner up in the 2007 and 2017 editions in Doha, said.
Earlier, Murray’s compatriot Liam Broady also made it to the next round after defeating fellow qualifier Oleksii Krutykh 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(2) in a similar fashion.
The World No. 147 converted six of 17 break points to see off and set a second-round meeting with third seed Daniil Medvedev.
Meanwhile, Australians Christopher O’Connell and Jason Kubler also advanced.
O’Connell defeated wild card Fernando Verdasco (6-1, 3-6, 6-0) who had reached the quarter-finals in Doha in the last three editions of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Kubler led 7-6(4) 1-0 when his opponent Aslan Karatsev retired from their first-round match.
In the day’s last singles match, seventh seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina cruised past Constant Lestienne with a 6-4, 6-3 first-round victory in 84 minutes to book a second round meeting with Soonwoo Kwon or Jordanian wild card Abedallah Shelbayh.