Andy Murray battled back from a set down to overcome qualifier Roman Safiullin in a tricky opening round clash in Basel.
The Brit won 5 games in a row from 4-1 down in the decider to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 to reach the second round in Basel in his first appearance there since 2005.
Murray was originally meant to face Sebastian Korda, who won a quarter final match between the two in Gijon a couple of weeks ago, before the American withdrew from the tournament due to injury.
After going down an early break in the opening set, Murray responded immediately and forced an opening set tie-break which was decided by some uncharacteristic errors from the 35-year-old as well as some fantastic shot-making from Safiullin.
Murray fended off five break points in the second set before breaking in the sixth game and taking the set 6-3.
Safiullin broke once again early in the third set but made a costly decision to hit an underarm serve at break point down when he was 4-2 up, and missed a comfortable forehand volley at the net.
With the momentum fully in Murray’s corner, the Brit went into lockdown mode and forced the qualifier into some errors which ended up costing him another service game, before a jubilant Murray took the second of his three match points on his serve.
Murray said after his win “he was serving huge and any opportunity he was hitting the ball huge from the back of the court. As the match went on, I started to dictate a few more points and served better. I changed the way I was returning a little bit and when I did that I was able to create a few more opportunities and frustrate him a little bit. ”
Murray next faces Roberto Bautista Agut or Laslo Djere, who face off later on Tuesday. If he reaches the semi-finals in Basel there is a strong possibility that the 3-time Major champion will enter the world’s top 40 for the first time since having career-threatening hip surgeries.
