As it had against Roberto Bautista Agut in 2019, the match went the full five sets, but this time Murray merely looked exhausted at the end of another marathon encounter rather than physically broken.
And it was not really decided until its final denouement, Murray doing just enough for a very hard-fought 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 victory in just eight minutes shy of four hours.
“It’s been a tough three, four years,” said Murray after the win. “I’ve put in a lot of work to get back here. This is the one where I thought I’d potentially played the last match of my career. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Thankfully, I managed to get over the line today.”
This story is from the January 18, 2022 edition of Evening Standard.
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This story is from the January 18, 2022 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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