Andy Murray comes through in five sets against Nikoloz Basilashvili to make Australian Open second round | Tennis News

Andy Murray returned to the Australian Open for the first time since 2019 and showed typical fighting spirit to win another classic five-set battle, this time against Nikoloz Basilashvili; his second win over the Georgian in the space of six days

Andy Murray was made to work hard in defeating Nikoloz Basilashvili at the Australian Open

Andy Murray produced another epic performance to dig deep and defeat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1 3-6 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 in the first round of the Australian Open.

The former world No 1 returned to the court where he was all but retired in 2019 after opening up about the extent of his hip problems.

Organisers produced a tribute video of his fellow players bidding him farewell but Murray has increasingly looked more like the player of old and he found the winning feeling again at Melbourne Park with a 6-1 3-6 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-4 victory after three hours and 52 minutes.

Murray saw his hopes of a long-awaited first ATP Tour title for more than two years ended with defeat against Russia’s Aslan Karatsev in the final of the Sydney Tennis Classic at the weekend.

And the five-time finalist in Melbourne continued his fine form to entertain the crowd on John Cain Arena and set up a second-round meeting with Japan’s Taro Daniel.

Last year’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev began his quest to become the first Russian man to win the title in Melbourne since Marat Safin in 2005 with a 6-1 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory over Henri Laaksonen.

Brilliant win for Watson; Dart swatted aside by Swiatek

Heather Watson showed encouraging signs in her victory over Mayar Sherif

Heather Watson gained her first Grand Slam victory in a year with a three-set success over Mayar Sherif of Egypt.

Wins have been hard to come by recently for Watson but she ended a seven-match losing run dating back to August in Adelaide last week and carried that confidence into Melbourne.

She is now ranked down at 94, 32 places lower than Sherif, who has been heading in the other direction.

But Watson played a fine match to win 6-3 5-7 6-2, thumping 40 winners and putting aside the disappointment of losing the second set.

Watson will play Tamara Zidansek in the second round on Thursday after the Slovenian beat Arantxa Rus 3-6 6-3 7-6 (10-8).

Iga Swiatek (right) is congratulated on her win by Harriet Dart

Iga Swiatek won 11 games in a row to defeat British qualifier Harriet Dart.

Dart came through qualifying for the third time here in four years, and for the third time found herself on Rod Laver Arena facing one of the big names.

She suffered the dreaded double bagel against Maria Sharapova in 2019 before a much better performance against Simona Halep the following year.

Dart, ranked 123, made a good start against seventh seed Swiatek, leading 3-1, but the Pole began to cut out the errors and, despite not doing too much wrong in the second set, the British No 3 failed to win another game.

Dart said: “It’s been challenging here. I’ve always had some really, I’d say, rough draws. I think I started well, and then it was tough, and she really found her rhythm, let her dictate me, and once you do that against such a high-quality player, it’s really tough to come back from that.

“Overall I’ve played six matches here, and happy to be injury-free and kind of kick on for the year.”

Former finalist Kvitova falls

Third seed Garbine Muguruza began her campaign with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Clara Burel. The 2020 runner-up faces Alize Cornet in the second round after she beat Viktoriya Tomova 6-3 6-3.

Former Wimbledon champion and Australian Open finalist Petra Kvitova fell at the first hurdle with a surprise 6-2 6-2 loss to Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea.

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