It was not always pretty and it was clearly a hugely challenging experience, but Andy Murray won his first Grand Slam match for nearly 14 months here on Monday. Returning to competition at this level for the first time since he limped out of Wimbledon 412 days ago, Murray beat Australia’s James Duckworth 6-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the second round of the US Open.
Duckworth, a journeyman player who, like Murray, has been struggling with injury for more than year, is the sort of opponent the Scot would have brushed aside in his prime, but this was an attritional battle from start to finish.
When the Australian won the first set Murray knew that in order to win he would have to play at least four sets for the first time since last summer’s Wimbledon, but the 31-year-old Scot dug deep. Read more