British tennis player Andy Murray graced his long-awaited Grand Slam comeback with a sensational five-set victory against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka at the US Open on Tuesday.
Murray, who was returning to play in his first Grand Slam tournament since the 2019 Australian Open, relied on his remarkable powers of recovery to battle back from the brink of defeat to edge world No 49 Nishioka 4-6 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in almost 5 hours.
After 596 days, a metal hip, a brief but enjoyable doubles sojourn and a global pandemic later, Murray was back playing singles at a major, a triumph in itself.
Murray had shown positive signs after defeating world No 7 Alexander Zverev in an impressive return to the tour at last week’s Western & Southern Open.
However, Nishioka’s awkward style meant he was going to be a difficult opponent for Murray and it proved so for two sets as the left-hander sucked Murray into lengthy baseline rallies.
The 24-year-old secured the first break of the match in the seventh game and served out the opening set comfortably.
Murray found himself on the back of two double faults which set the tone for a chastening second set for the former world No 1, who quickly found himself a double break and 4-0 down.
Murray finally raised himself after going two sets and a breakdown.
He channelled his inner old warrior, halved the deficit, and went on to save a match point on the way to levelling the match with a second tie-breaker.
Murray, the fierce competitor eventually re-emerged after cancelling out another break and when Nishioka floated a forehand long, finishing off the Japanese baseliner for another one of his Houdini acts.
“Physically I actually did pretty well,” Murray added. “My toes and stuff were hurting. Actually I did pretty well for being such a long match.
“I don’t know if that was because I maybe didn’t use up so much energy the first couple sets because I was sort of pacing myself a little bit. But I did quite well physically.”
Murray will have to recover quickly as his next opponent will be Canadian 15th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Dan Evans added to the British contingents success story at Flushing Meadows by beating Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-2 6-1 7-6 (5). The British No 2 seized the initiative by fashioning an immediate double-break and proceeded to charge through the opening two sets.
Seyboth Wild, a former US Open junior champion in 2018, rallied in the third set and forced the tie-break but Evans completed victory on his second match point.
Austrian second seed Dominic Thiem is through to the second round of the US Open after Spaniard Jaume Munar retired as he dropped the first two sets.
Thiem, who reached his third Grand Slam final at this year’s Australian Open, where he lost to Novak Djokovic, was leading 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 when Munar ended the match.
First Round results
Top Half
Novak Djokovic (Ser) (1) bt Damir Dzumhur (Bih) 6-1 6-4 6-1
Kyle Edmund (Gbr) bt Alexander Bublik (Kaz) 2-6 7-5 7-5 6-0
Michael Mmoh (USA) bt Joao Sousa (Por) 6-2 7-5 2-6 6-1
Jan-Lennard Struff (Ger) (28) bt Pedro Martinez Portero (Spa) 6-0 7-5 6-4
Pablo Carreno-Busta (Spa) bt Yasutaka Uchiyama (Jpn) 4-6 6-3 1-6 6-3 6-3
Mitchell Krueger (USA) bt Pedro Sousa (Por) 3-6 6-2 7-5 6-3
Ricardas Berankis (Lit) bt Federico Gaio (Ita) 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-4 6-4
Steve Johnson (USA) bt John Isner (USA) (16) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3)
Denis Shapovalov (Can) (12) bt Sebastian Korda (USA) 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-2
Soon Woo Kwon (Kor) bt Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (USA) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 6-2
Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Mohamed Safwat (Egy) 6-1 6-4 6-4
Taylor Harry Fritz (USA) (19) bt Dominik Koepfer (Ger) 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 6-2 6-4
Filip Krajinovic (Ser) (26) bt Mikael Ymer (Swe) 6-2 7-6 (7-3) 6-3
Marcos Giron (USA) bt Marc Polmans (Aus) 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 3-6 6-4 6-2
Lloyd George Harris (Rsa) bt Marco Cecchinato (Ita) 6-4 7-5 6-2
David Goffin (Bel) (7) bt Reilly Opelka (USA) 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-1 6-4
Stefanos Tsitsipas (Gre) (4) bt Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spa) 6-2 6-1 6-1
Maxime Cressy (USA) bt Jozef Kovalik (Svk) 6-1 2-6 6-4 6-4
Juan Ignacio Londero (Arg) bt Evgeny Donskoy (Rus) 6-3 6-3 7-5
Borna Coric (Cro) (27) bt Pablo Andujar (Spa) 7-5 6-3 6-1
Egor Gerasimov (Blr) bt Dusan Lajovic (Ser) (18) 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-4
Jordan Thompson (Aus) bt Stefano Travaglia (Ita) 6-3 6-4 4-6 6-2
Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) bt Attila Balazs (Hun) 6-4 7-5 6-4
Christian Garin (Chi) (13) bt Ulises Blanch (USA) 4-6 5-7 6-4 6-4 6-2
Cam Norrie (Gbr) bt Diego Schwartzman (Arg) (9) 3-6 4-6 6-2 6-1 7-5
Federico Coria (Arg) bt Jason Jung (Tpe) 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-1 2-0 ret
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spa) bt Dennis Novak (Aut) 3-6 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-0
Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) (24) bt Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) 6-3 6-4 6-4
Adrian Mannarino (Fra) (32) bt Lorenzo Sonego (Ita) 6-1 6-4 2-6 6-3
Jack Sock (USA) bt Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 3-6 6-4 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-2)
Brandon Nakashima (USA) bt Paolo Lorenzi (Ita) 6-3 6-2 7-6 (7-3)
Alexander Zverev (Ger) (5) bt Kevin Anderson (Rsa) 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 6-3 7-5
Bottom Half
Matteo Berrettini (Ita) (6) bt Go Soeda (Jpn) 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 6-4
Ugo Humbert (Fra) bt Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) 6-3 6-4 6-3
Emil Ruusuvuori (Fin) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slo) 6-3 3-6 6-1 4-6 6-1
Casper Ruud (Nor) (30) bt MacKenzie McDonald (USA) 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-5
Ernesto Escobedo (USA) bt Kamil Majchrzak (Pol) 7-6 (6-3) 6-2 6-3
Salvatore Caruso (Ita) bt James Duckworth (Aus) 4-6 7-5 7-5 6-2
Gregoire Barrere (Fra) bt Taro Daniel (Jpn) v 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-1
Andrey Rublev (Rus) (10) bt Jeremy Chardy (Fra) 6-4 6-4 6-3
Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) (14) bt Tommy Paul (USA) 6-4 6-3 6-4
Marton Fucsovics (Hun) bt Hugo Dellien (Bol) 6-3 6-3 6-1
Frances Tiafoe (USA) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-5
John Millman (Aus) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo) (22) 6-1 6-4 6-4
Jeffrey John Wolf (USA) bt Guido Pella (Arg) (29) 6-2 0-6 6-3 6-3
Roberto Carballes Baena (Spa) bt Feliciano Lopez (Spa) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-3
Christopher O’Connell (Aus) bt Laslo Djere (Ser) 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) 6-4
Daniil Medvedev (Rus) (3) bt Federico Delbonis (Arg) 6-1 6-2 6-4
Roberto Bautista Agut (Spa) (8) bt Tennys Sandgren (USA) 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-3)
Miomir Kecmanovic (Ser) bt Gianluca Mager (Ita) 6-4 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 3-6 6-2
Vasek Pospisil (Can) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 7-5 (7-3)
Milos Raonic (Can) (25) bt Leonardo Mayer (Arg) 6-3 6-2 6-6
Alex De Minaur (Aus) (21) bt Andrej Martin (Svk) 6-4 6-3 7-5
Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 7-6 &7-0) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1
Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus) bt Sam Querrey (USA) 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 6-2
Karen Khachanov (Rus) (11) bt Jannik Sinner (Ita) 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 6-0 7-6 (7-4)
Felix Auger-Aliassime (Can) (15) bt Thiago Moura Monteiro (Bra) 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (8-6)
Andy Murray (Gbr) bt Yoshihito Nishioka (Jpn) 4-6 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4
Corentin Moutet (Fra) bt Jiri Vesely (Cze) 6-4 6-4 7-5
Dan Evans (Gbr) (23) bt Thiago Seyboth Wild (Bra) 6-2 6-1 7-6 (7-5)
Marin Cilic (Cro) (31) bt Denis Kudla (USA) 6-7 (3-7) 3-6 7-5 7-5 6-3
Norbert Gombos (Svk) bt Radu Albot (Mol) 6-4 6-1 6-4
Sumit Nagal (Ind) bt Bradley Klahn (USA) 6-1 6-3 3-6 6-1
