Murray wins at Australian Open in five-set thriller
Sir Andy Murray clawed his way into the third round of the Australian Open with a sensational five-set victory over home country hero Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The former world number one and five-time Australian Open finalist came through against half of last year’s men’s doubles champions in a match that finished at 4am local time in Melbourne.
Murray beat his opponent 4-6 6-7 7-6 6-3 7-5 for the astounding victory.
The win is a second within a week for the Briton, who is arguably enjoying his most successful week in tennis since he had a metal hip installed.
Murray moves on to the third round of a Grand Slam for the second consecutive Slam after last year’s US Open but the Brit has not reached the third round Melbourne since 2017.
Murray’s two matches have lasted a combined 10 sets and has seen the Brit beat two seeded opponents in Matteo Berrettini and Kokkinakis.
Murray joins Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans in the third round of the men’s competition.
Norrie plays early tomorrow morning while Evans plays on Saturday.
The former British No1 has earned a third-round tie against Roberto Bautista Agut – the Spaniard is seeded 24th in the draw.
The two have met six times over the year with the Scot winning the first three and Bautista Agut claiming victories in the latter three.
The two have met before in the Australian Open – in the 2019 first round – with the Spanish player claiming the win in five sets.