Andy Murray jokes about ‘ridiculous’ passage of play as he stays in hunt for Australian Open seeding

Shahida Jacobs
Andy Murray in action
Andy Murray serves the ball during a match

Andy Murray returned to winning ways with victory over Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of the Swiss Indoors on Monday and he acknowledged that he was a bit perplexed by the opening few games of the match.

Following a disastrous Asian swing that saw him lose three matches in four outings, Murray finally tasted victory again as he ended his three-match losing streak with a 7-5, 6-4 win over the world No 51 in the opening round of the ATP 500 event.

But the match was a lot more complicated than what the scoreline suggests, especially the start where the two slugged it out for two hours and 19 minutes.

“It was tough. The first four or five games were something like 45 minutes,” Murray said. “I don’t remember having that really before, it was ridiculous.

“And then had a chance at the end of the first set, didn’t get it and just managed to sneak a break at the end. Up again in the second, couldn’t quite finish it, but did well to respond and get the break at the end. Played a great point obviously on the match point to finish.”

Murray nailed it as it was “ridiculous” with the first game going to four deuces with Hanfmann eking out a break point before Murray went 1-0 up. After a solid hold from the German, Murray again struggled on serve as his second service game had six deuces, but again he held firm.

It was then Hanfmann’s turn to battle on serve in game four, but he also managed to keep it all square at 2-2.

An easy service game finally arrived as Murray held to love and the break finally came in game six, but only after five deuces.

Hanfmann then broke back in game nine only for Murray to land a second break three games later to wrap up the first set in one hour and 24 minutes.

The second set had a similar theme, although the games didn’t take too long to complete, as Murray broke first before his opponent hit back. Murray, though, got the decisive break in game 10.

“Happy to come through,” the three-time Grand Slam winner said. “He’s had a brilliant year and has been playing very well, so it’s a good result.”

Murray will face Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round after the Argentine upset eighth seed Sebastian Korda 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

The Scot started the week at No 40 in the ATP Rankings, needing to pull together a decent run to boost his hopes of being seeded for the 2023 Australian Open alive. Monday’s win didn’t help him to move up the rankings as he will need to string together a few wins.

He only has two tournaments left after this as he will take part in the Paris Masters and the Moselle Open in Metz.

READ MORE: WATCH: Andy Murray hilariously tears up after eating hot chilli pepper during meal swap

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