Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray successfully kicked off his latest bid for a fourth title at the Canadian Open, eking out a marathon opening set en route to defeating Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(3), 6-0 in the first round.
This was Murray’s second meeting with Sonego. The pair met for the first time earlier this year at the ATP 250 event in Doha, where the Briton saved three match points before winning in a dramatic third-set tiebreak.
The former World No. 1, who is making his first appearance in Toronto since 2015 and won the second of his three Canadian Open titles in this city in 2010, will meet Australian qualifier Max Purcell in the second round.
Murray seemed to have the upper hand from the beginning, even if his unforced errors allowed Sonego to stay ahead for much of the opening set. Although some untimely double faults put him at risk of losing the set while serving at 4-5. From an early minibreak down in the tiebreak, Murray won six of the next seven points to wrap up the set in close to 90 minutes.
The Brit carried his momentum into the second set, looking for ways to keep Sonego off balance and making him hit one extra ball. With the Italian growing more erratic with his groundstrokes, Murray pressed home his advantage, closing out the win in two hours and nine minutes.
“It really wasn’t pleasant to play in. It was really blustery, changing direction during the point, and we knew coming in it was going to feel uncomfortable. We hit on this court this morning and it was really breezy,” said Murray of the conditions after his win.
“So I was expecting it but it still adds a bit of stress to the match and it was a really tight first set. There were lots of opportunities each way, I managed to sneak through the tie-break and after that he was obviously a bit disappointed, and I relaxed a little bit,” he added.
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