MURRAY WINS IN FIVE-SET THRILLER

VETERAN SEES OFF BERRETTINI

- Matt Majendie

ANDY MURRAY recovered from a match point down to produce a performance of old to knock out No13 seed Matteo Berrettini in what will surely be one of the standout matches of this Australian Open fortnight.

The 35-year-old Scot (right, on his way to victory) had claimed to have worked harder over the winter than ever before in what felt like a final throw of the dice at trying to match the world's best in this second part of his career.

And it paid off with aplomb, as he beat a top-20 player at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2017, an opponent who had reached last year's semi-final and was being talked of as a potential champion.

Whether Murray can now go on the long run he has pledged at a Grand Slam may well rest on how his metal hip and his body recovers from a marathon contest which ran to nearly five hours. In the end, it was the former world No1 celebrating victory, but this could so easily have been Berrettini's win had the Italian not hit the easiest of backhands so limply into the bottom of the net with a match point as Murray served at 4-5.