Andy Murray, ranked 50th in the world, started his campaign in Doha with a victory over Alexandre Muller. Murray defeated Muller 6-1, 7-6 in just under two hours. This win is significant for Murray as it marks his first triumph since October of last year, breaking a six-match losing streak despite facing an injury scare.
During the early stages of the match, Murray felt pain in his left knee and revealed a large cyst in his hip that extended towards his thigh and potentially his knee. Despite these issues, Murray continued to play without any major problems. He dominated his opponent in the first set and managed to secure the second set, earning his 49th hard-court ATP win.
Murray’s performance improved, particularly with his first and second serves. He saved three out of four break points and capitalized on three out of five break opportunities.
In the opening game of the match, Murray held his serve at 30 with a powerful winner. In the second game, he made an impressive comeback from 40-0 down, winning five consecutive points and securing a break with a backhand winner down the line.
At this point, Murray was already experiencing pain in his knee. Despite this, he held his serve at 15 in the third game and requested a medical timeout. The veteran continued to play and even landed a backhand crosscourt winner in the fourth game, creating two break chances.
Muller managed to deny Murray these break opportunities and held his serve after a series of deuces, reducing the deficit and getting his name on the scoreboard. Murray closed the fifth game after another deuce, taking a 4-1 lead and extending the following game with a forced error from his opponent.
With a forehand winner down the line on a break point, Murray extended his advantage to 5-1 and served for the set. He faced a break point but managed to save it with a volley winner. Murray converted his second set point, winning the opening set in 46 minutes and looking forward to the second set.
In the fourth game of the second set, Muller hit a backhand winner down the line, earning two break points. However, Murray successfully denied both break points, with the second being denied by a powerful backhand winner. Murray then won a game point with a drop shot winner and leveled the score at 2-2 with a strong serve.
In the seventh game, Murray aggressively attacked Muller’s serve and hit a forehand winner on a break point, taking a 4-3 lead and moving closer to victory. However, Murray lost his serve in the eighth game after squandering a 40-15 lead and hitting a forehand beyond the baseline. This allowed Muller to level the score at 4-4.
Both players served well in the remaining four games, leading to a tiebreak. The tiebreak started with no mini-breaks in the opening five points, but Muller took a 3-2 lead with a smash winner. In the sixth point, Muller won an extended rally with a drop shot winner, extending his lead to 4-2.
Murray managed to regain the mini-break in the ninth point with a drop shot winner and forced Muller to make an error, leveling the score at 5-5. In the 11th point, Muller made a backhand error, giving Murray a match point. Murray seized the opportunity and hit a deep backhand return at 6-5, causing Muller to make a mistake and securing four consecutive points to win the match.
According to the Source tennisworldusa.org