(Tennis news) Andy Murray overcame Matteo Berrettini 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (10-6) in their opening match at the Australian Open to progress into the next round. The Scottish tennis player has finished runner-up in Melbourne five times in the past and went on to win two sets before his Italian opponent fought back to level in a dramatic fourth set tie-break. In the 10th game of the deciding set, Berrettini created a match point but his backhand hit the net, allowing Murray to force a decider in the tie-break. This allowed the Scot to get back into the game and seal the victory in a match that lasted four hours and 49 minutes.

“I’ll be feeling this this evening and tomorrow but right now I’m just unbelievably happy and very proud of myself. I’ve put a lot of work into the last three months with my team, to give me the opportunity to perform in stadiums like this and matches like this and it paid off tonight. That’s the first time I’ve ever played one of those 10-point tie-breakers and it’s a bit different. He came back really strong and I was a bit lucky at the end with the net-cord. He was serving unbelievably and he’s a brilliant competitor as well, he always fights right to the end. I did well to get through.” – Andy Murray in the post match interview

In other results, Dan Evans secured a four set victory over Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-4 despite the match being suspended for some time due to extreme heat. It took Evans almost three hours to take a 2-1 lead before play was halted. As for Bagnis, the Argentinian is ranked 91st and has never won a main-draw match in Melbourne and Evans made a poor start to the match, dropping serve in his opening game. Evans fought back to win four games in a row but Bagnis showed great resilience to remain in the match.

The British number 2 then gained the advantage with a break for 4-3 and took the set before play was halted when the heat scale reached 5. Play then resumed at 5 pm (Australian time) and Evans secured the victory after three hours and 29 minutes. He will now face veteran Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in the second round of the Australian Open.

Also read: Nick Kyrgios forced to withdraw from Australian Open due to knee injury