Andy Murray outlasts Matteo Berrettini at Australian Open for biggest win at a Grand Slam since 2017

Andy Murray turned back the clock at the Australian Open on Tuesday, battling for four hours and 49 minutes—and even fighting off a match point down 5-4 in the fifth set—en route to an epic 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (10-6) first-round victory over No. 13 seed Matteo Berrettini.

“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow, but right now I’m just unbelievably happy, very proud of myself,” Murray said afterwards.

“I’ve put a lot of work into the last few months with my team to give me the opportunity to perform on stadiums like this, in matches like this, and against players like Matteo. And it paid off tonight.”

By defeating the No. 14-ranked Italian, Murray snapped a five-match losing streak against Top 20 players at the Grand Slams. His last win over a member of the elite at a major came against a No. 9-ranked Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros in 2017.

The Brit also netted his 199th career win over a Top 20 player (199-138).

Murray also snapped a three-match losing streak to Berrettini.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever played one of those 10-point tie-breakers, and it’s a bit different,” Murray said. “Like when you’re up 6-1, 7-1 or whatever, it feels like you’re still quite far away. And he came back really strong. I was just a bit lucky at the end with the net cord.

“I think some of the tennis at the end was really good—it felt like that playing, I don’t know what it looked like. He was serving unbelievably, and he’s a brilliant competitor as well, he’s one of the best competitors on the tour, he always fights right ’til the end.

"I did well to get through.”

The tennis was really good—the two combined for 112 winners (Murray 40, Berrettini 72) to just 93 unforced errors (Murray 34, Berrettini 59).

The milestones didn’t end there, either—it was also Murray's 50th career win at the Australian Open, making him the fifth man in the Open Era to record 50 or more Australian Open match wins.

MOST WINS FOR A MAN AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN IN OPEN ERA:
102: Roger Federer (102-15)
82: Novak Djokovic (82-8) [playing Tuesday night]
77: Rafael Nadal (77-15)
56: Stefan Edberg (56-10)
50: Andy Murray (50-14)

Though it’s one of the two majors he hasn’t won, the Australian Open has arguably been Murray’s most consistent of the four—five of the 11 major finals he’s reached have come here. He was a runner-up to Federer in 2010 and to Djokovic in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016.