Former world primary Andy Murray made it by way of one other powerful match on Thursday, rallying from a set right down to beat Tomas Etcheverry and attain the second spherical of the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters 1000.
The Briton, who has made a behavior of nice escapes this yr, wanted three hours and 12 minutes to subdue the Argentinian 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-4.
“Some of the matches I’ve performed this yr I haven’t deserved to win all of them,” said Murray, who won a five-setter lasting more than five hours at the Australian Open and in Doha last month overcame eight match points in four matches before falling to Daniil Medvedev in the final.
Thursday offered a bit less drama, but Murray, grinding back toward the top 40 after hip replacement surgery in 2019, had to fight off two break points in the eighth game of the third set.
He needed five chances to get the decisive break in the next game, finally converting when Etcheverry, riding high after reaching the final in Santiago last week, double-faulted.
They arrived at match point after three hours and nine minutes, Murray missing his first chance when his drop shot attempt spun wide. Three minutes later he polished it off with an ace.
Murray improved to 7-0 in decisive sets this year and booked a meeting with 15th-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
After injuries threatened his career, Murray, owner of three Grand Slam titles and two Olympic gold medals, said he wants to enjoy the final act of his career.
“I really want to make the most of these last years that I’ve got,” he mentioned. “I wish to maintain going, I nonetheless really feel extraordinarily motivated.”
Murray was one of a string of former Grand Slam winners in first-round action as the 32 men’s and women’s seeds — led by Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek — enjoyed byes.
Britain’s 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu rallied from a break down in each set to beat Danka Kovinic 6-2, 6-3, avenging a 2022 Australian Open second-round loss to the Montenegrin as she continued her fightback from various ailments that have slowed her 2023 campaign.
“I’m happy I stuck in,” mentioned Raducanu, who had shut down her 2022 season early with wrist bother and damage her ankle in her second match of 2023 in Auckland.
She pulled out of the WTA occasion in Austin final week with tonsillitis and withdrew from a pre-tournament exhibition right here when her wrist bother flared up.
But she mentioned the litany of issues solely made her extra decided.
Kokkinakis to face Alcaraz
“I simply love competing,” Raducanu said. “I think having something that you are going through kind of gives you in some ways more incentive.
“Like, ‘OK ‘I’ve got to be aggressive or dominate — there’s something to really cling onto and use.”
Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, with two knee and two foot surgical procedures behind him and now ranked one centesimal on the earth, fired 17 winners in a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic
Austria’s Dominic Thiem, the 2020 US Open winner who was sidelined eight months after a proper wrist damage in 2021, took on France’s Adrian Mannarino within the evening session — when 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens confronted 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin.
In different matches Thursday, Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis, ranked 94th on the earth, booked a second-round conflict with top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over US wild card Brandon Holt.
American Ben Shelton defeated Italian veteran Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-1 to arrange a gathering with fourth-seeded defending champion Taylor Fritz.
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