Australian Open: Andy Murray beats Berrettini after saving match point
Three-time Grand Slam champion, Andy Murray, beat 13th seed Matteo Berrettini in the opening round of the 2023 Australian Open. The former saved a match point to claim a 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(10-5) win after four hours and 49 minutes. It was Murray's first Top 20 victory at a Grand Slam in over four years. Here are the key stats.
Stats of the match
Murray won a total of 166 points, while Berrettini finished with five less than the former. The former struck 72 winners compared to Murray's 40. Berrettini fired as many as 31 aces in the match, with Murray settling with 10. Murray recorded a win percentage of 72 and 67 on his first and second serve, respectively. Berrettini smashed the match's fastest serve (221 KPH).
50th win at Australian Open
Murray has become the fifth man in the Open Era to complete 50 match-wins at the Australian Open. He now has a win-loss record of 50-14 in the year's first Grand Slam. Murray has advanced to the second round in Melbourne for the second consecutive year. Notably, he has reached the Australian Open finals five times (2010-11, 2013, 2015-16).
Other feats attained by Murray
Murray has extended his streak of winning a Grand Slam match after winning the first two sets (138 matches). As per Opta, he last lost a match in this manner in 2005 (against David Nalbandian at Wimbledon). Besides, Murray has won four of the last five major matches wherein he won the first set. Only one of these matches finished in straight sets.
Murray snaps this streak of Berrettini
While Murray maintained his streak, he ended one of Berrettini's. According to ATP, the latter had won his past nine tie-breaks at the Australian Open before losing the fifth set to Murray. This included a fifth-set tie-break win against Carlos Alcaraz last year.
H2H: Berrettini 3-2 Murray
Although Murray won the Australian Open tie, Berrettini still has a 3-2 lead over him in the head-to-head series. Before this, the latter defeated Murray in three consecutive encounters (US Open, Stuttgart final, and London Queen's Club. Murray won the first-ever match between the duo, having claimed a 7-6(2), 7-6(7) win in Beijing.
