Wildcard Andy Murray has opened his Australian Open account with a thrilling five-set victory over 21st seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.
The Scotsman, a five-time finalist and fan favourite at Melbourne Park, looked right at home in the 6-1 3-6 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4 win on John Caine Arena against the big-hitting Basilashvili, who despite hitting 69 winners was cost dearly by unforced errors.
While the win for Murray continues the 34-year-old great's remarkable tennis comeback after two major hip surgeries, which has seen him miss three of the last four Australian Open tournaments.
"It has been a tough, tough three or four years and I put in a lot of work to get back here," Murray said on-court after the win.
"I played on this court many times ... this is the one where I thought potentially I had played my last match three years ago, but it is amazing to be back winning a five-set battle like that.
"I couldn't ask for any more."
Andy loves the fans. The fans love Andy ❤️ @andy_murray · #AusOpen · #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/0LdJPBxBeF
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2022
After beating Basilashvili last week in the second round of the Sydney International on his way to the final, Murray looked to have the Georgian's measure again, securing two breaks to steal the first set, 6-1.
Basilashvili would find his way back into the contest by breaking Murray three times to secure the second set 6-3 but his grip on momentum wouldn't last long.
Murray claimed the third set 6-4 after breaking his opponent twice to set himself up for victory, but Basilashvili wouldn't go down, one again fighting his way back in the fourth to force a deciding set.
Despite looking physically drained going into the fifth set after being pushed to his limit in the fourth, Murray remarkably held off another Basilashvili fightback late in the deciding set to secure victory in just under four hours.
"It was a brutal match in Sydney, we played three hours over three sets," Murray said.
"He hits the ball huge from the back of the court and I had to do a lot of running today, a lot of defending.
"He is not the sort of guy whose name you want to see next to yours in the draw very often so I took obviously a bit of confidence from the win last week, and thankfully I managed to get over the line today."
Come Onnnnnnnnn!! 🙏 @andy_murray Such a tough battle. Amazing effort to come thru and get the W! 🔥 🏴
— Jamie Murray (@jamie_murray) January 18, 2022
The win sees Murray progress through to the second round where he'll take on Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel.
