Miami: Two-time Miami Open champion Andy Murray cruised to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over struggling Italian Matteo Berrettini in the first round at Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday.
Berrettini needed medical attention at the end of the second set after appearing to almost pass out on court, but fought on. The Italian recently returned to the tour after an injury-plagued 2023 and reached the final of a Challenger event in Phoenix.
He broke Murray’s serve in the first game of the match and was firmly in control of the opening set. But he faded badly in the second and called off the court at 5-2 down looking dizzy.
The weather in Miami wasn’t particularly hot or humid, and was pleasantly milder than the tournament has often been in years past.
The 27-year-old former world number six put up the better fight in the third, but a solid-looking Murray saw out the match in two hours and 47 minutes.
Murray made just 20 unforced errors while Berrettini committed 44 as the Scot secured his fourth straight first-round win.
“There’s life in an old dog,” Murray wrote to the television camera at the end of the match, delighted with the manner of his victory.
“I started off a little slow, but I think I played pretty well from the middle of the first set until the end of the match,” he said.
“I created a lot of chances and he struggled a little at the end of the second and the beginning of the third. I took advantage of that and started fast in the third. I ended up serving it well. .”
Murray, who won the Miami Open in 2009 and 2013, will face 29th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina in the next round. At the WTA tournament, American Sloane Stephens beat Angelique Kerber 6-2, 6-3 in a meeting between two former Grand Slam champions.
Stephens, who celebrated her 31st birthday, had the upper hand throughout against the German, who has shown good form in Indian Wells, where she reached the fourth round.
Stephens, the 2018 Miami champion, will face 19th-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the second round.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka had little trouble beating Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretta 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 18 minutes to reach the second round.
Osaka is ranked 229th in the world after taking a break after having a baby and spending more than a year out of action, and returns to the scene of her run to the final in 2022, where she lost to Iga Swiatek in the final.
