Andy Murray claimed his first ATP Tour singles victory since January by beating Tennys Sandgren in the opening round of the Zhuhai Championships.
Murray faced Sandgren in the second singles match of his comeback last month, losing in two close sets, and this was a demonstration of the progress he has made since then as he claimed a 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 victory against the world No69.
Not since a first-round win over James Duckworth in Brisbane right at the start of the season, prior to the hip resurfacing operation he underwent at the end of January, had the former world No1 won a contest at this level.
Murray played his first tournament at second-tier Challenger level in 14 years in Majorca while his rivals were doing battle at the US Open and had been training hard since ahead of four consecutive tournament weeks. The improvements were clear on Tuesday, with Murray moving by far the best he has in any of his singles matches so far and serving strongly. That enabled the 32-year-old to be more attacking, and he will be encouraged at the power he was able to get behind his forehand.
There were also classic Murray touches – a deep defensive lob from a seemingly impossible position to win one point in the second set, and a handful of flicked winners after chasing down drop shots.
Murray, who did not face a break point during the match, took the first set with a break of serve in the sixth game and had a match point at 6-5 in the second-set tie-break. But his American opponent saved it and won three points in a row to take the contest to a third set.
In humid conditions, this was a test of Murray’s physical condition but it was Sandgren who was found wanting. After Murray broke to lead 3-0, Sandgren took a long medical time-out to have strapping applied to his foot and then dropped serve again after a mammoth game. Murray was unable to take two chances to win the set to love but polished things off in his next service game and will take on Australia’s Alex De Minaur in the second round.
