Andy Murray Stuns Matteo Berrettini at China Open 2019

Published 10/01/2019, 3:14 AM EDT

Follow Us

Andy Murray continues his singles comeback as he defeats the no.8 seed Matteo Berrettini in straight sets 7-6, 7-6 in the first round of the China Open 2019 after over 2 hours of play on Tuesday.

Set One

Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini started off well as the two held their service games quite comfortably till 2-2. However, the Italian broke the former world No.1 after grabbing the second breakpoint of the match to earn a lead of 3-2 in the opening set.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

While Andy Murray squandered a breakpoint opportunity as he was forced to serve to stay in the set at 3-5. After holding a crucial service game, the Briton stepped up to break Berrettini after earning three breaks point chances to get back on serve.

The set was then forced to a tiebreaker as both the players held their service games respectively. Andy Murray was all over Matteo Berrettini in the tiebreaker as he took advantage of two mini-breaks and win the set 7-6(2) in 53 minutes.

https://twitter.com/ArthurStramash/status/1178915625026097154?s=19

https://twitter.com/Mike_Dickson_DM/status/1178913945203232769?s=19

Set two

Matteo Berrettini stepped up in the second set as he broke Murray in his opening service game of the set. However, Murray responded well as he broke back in the next game to get back on serve. In the next game, the three-time Grand Slam champion fought hard to save four break points to hold a crucial service game.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

The two players then held their service game respectively till 6-6, forcing the set to go through the tiebreaker. There was very less to differentiate between the two in the second-set tiebreaker. However, it was Murray who saved two set points to win the tiebreaker 9-7.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

The 32-year-old will face his compatriot Cameron Norrie in the second round of Beijing Open 2019.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Varun Khanna

1,339Articles

One take at a time

Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
Show More>