Andy Murray grabs dominant first win of the year ahead of Australian Open
Andy Murray has won his opening match at the Sydney Tennis Classic, a warm-up event for the Australian Open, by beating Norway’s Viktor Durasovic in straight sets.
He saw off the 24-year-old in a dominant display, defeating him 6-3, 6-1 to secure a place in the second round where he will face a tougher opponent in the form of world No 23 and second seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.
The five-time Australian Open finalist forced the Norwegian to make errors in the match which gave the Scot the perfect opportunity to go all the way and win the tie.
Murray has hit a vein of form at just the right time; he was awarded a wildcard for the Australian Open and will be hoping to go further than he has done over the past five years – he’s only managed not to crash out of the competition after the first round once since 2016.
First win of 2022 ✅@andy_murray sails through to the next round of the Sydney Tennis Classic with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Viktor Durasovic.#SydneyTennis pic.twitter.com/ziNkmD6wzu
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 11, 2022
However, as a result of his long standing hip injuries which have made him question whether it’s time to hang up the racket on multiple occasions, the former World No 1 has only competed in one of the last four season opening Grand Slams.
But this version of Murray was no where to be seen in Sydney despite fears that he might not be up for a major tournament after he was beaten in the first round of the Melbourne Summer Set last week.
“It is really nice to get my range and hopefully I can carry that through to Melbourne,” the three time Grand Slam champion said in his on-court interview.
“I was hoping to get matches in Melbourne last week, but that didn’t happen – thankfully the tournament organisers agreed to give me the wild card and the opportunity to play here.
“I’m very grateful for that and hopefully I can be here for a few more days.”
Murray faces Basilashvili from Georgia in the second round of the warm-up tournament on Wednesday while the Australian Open starts from January 17.
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