Australian Open: Andy Murray beats Basilashvili to reach second round
Melbourne: Five years and five long sets later, five-time Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray finally has won another match at the season-opening Grand Slam tournament. The former No 1-ranked Murray, playing thanks to a wild-card invitation as he continues his career comeback from hip operations and thoughts of retirement, beat 21st-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1,3-6,6-4,6-7(5),6-4 on […]
Melbourne: Five years and five long sets later, five-time Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray finally has won another match at the season-opening Grand Slam tournament.
The former No 1-ranked Murray, playing thanks to a wild-card invitation as he continues his career comeback from hip operations and thoughts of retirement, beat 21st-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1,3-6,6-4,6-7(5),6-4 on Tuesday to reach the second round at Melbourne Park.
He lost a five-setter in the first round in 2019 — a match he, and everyone else, thought might have been his last in Australia — after missing the 2018 edition with an injury. He missed the 2020 tournament with a pelvic injury and last year’s event because of Covid-19. Murray beat Basilashvili in a three-hour three-setter last week in Sydney, where he reached the final of the tune-up tournament.
Murray’s wasn’t the only dramatic five-setter that finished in the early evening on Day 2. Ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime fended off Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4,0-6,3-6,6-3,6-4, and Maxime Cressy overcame 20 double-faults to upset fellow American and No 22-seeded John Isner 7-6(2),7-5,6-7(4),6-7(4),6-4.
Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev had a much more routine first round. Nine-time champion Djokovic was already back in Serbia — two days after losing his legal challenge to stay in Australia despite being unvaccinated against COVID-19 — when Medvedev went into Rod Laver Arena for a 6-1 6-4 7-6(3) win over Henri Laaksonen.
Aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win his second major title in the very next Grand Slam appearance after his first such trophy, Medvedev joined No 5 Andrey Rublev, No 11 Jannik Sinner, No 13 Diego Schwartzman, No 15 Roberto Bautista Agut and No 27 Marin Cilic in the second round.
Third-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza kept a perfect streak intact when she won her first-round match at the Australian Open for the 10th straight time, beating No. 77-ranked Clara Burel 6-3 6-4. Muguruza next plays French veteran Alize Cornet. Sixth-seeded Anett Kontaveit had a 6-2 6-3 win over Katerina Siniakova.
Seventh-seeded Iga Swiatek, the 2020 French Open champion, opened with a 6-3, 6-0 win over 123rd-ranked British qualifier Harriet Dart. Also advancing were 2021 French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Simona Halep, a former No 1 and a two-time major champion who reached the 2018 final at Melbourne Park.
No 19 Elise Mertens beat Vera Zvonareva 6-4 7-5 and 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur rallied to beat Robin Anderson 6-7(5) 6-3 6-3 to start her 20th — and last — Australian Open singles campaign. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova lost to Sorana Cirstea of Romania for the second straight year, this time 6-2 6-2 in the first round.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
