NEW YORK • Andy Murray has made an art form out of playing on the edge and counter-punching his way out of danger.

That talent was on full display on Tuesday at the US Open, as the Scot flirted with elimination and somehow pulled out a 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win in a nearly five-hour match with Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan.

"I'm tired," the 33-year-old Murray said afterwards. "My toes are the worst."

Getting into a marathon slug-fest with Nishioka was a terrible idea for the three-time Grand Slam champion, who is still early in his singles comeback from hip replacement surgery.

Coming back from a career-threatening injury as the former world No. 1 is trying to do is always a fraught, risky endeavour. That is especially the case now, with the coronavirus pandemic disrupting tennis and so many other sports.

Normally, he would play a series of smaller tournaments to sharpen his game against lesser competition, gain rankings points and then hopefully getting seeded at a Major. That would protect him from top opponents for a round or two.

But with the tennis world on hiatus from March until last month, there was little opportunity for Murray to play himself into Grand Slam form.

Would he still be fast enough to cover the court? Could he last five sets after so much time away from Grand Slam tennis?

The early answers - yes, and yes, at least against the world No. 49.

This was Murray being so Murray, carrying on that high-volume dialogue with himself throughout, spraying flat backhands, topspin lobs and the soft drop shots.

Crowds are hard to come by at the US Open this year - fans have been banned from attending - but Murray managed to attract one, with world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, seen in the seats of Arthur Ashe Stadium.​

"It's rare you have lots of players watching your match," said Murray, who saved a match point in the fourth set.

He will have to recover quickly as his next opponent could be Canadian 15th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. He said his first job was to try and find an ice bath.

"They have one in the locker room but that's supposed to be for an emergency. This is an emergency," he said.

In the women's draw, Serena Williams earned her 102nd singles victory at Flushing Meadows, the most of any player, male or female, with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over fellow American Kristie Ahn.

Her last Slam title came at the 2017 Australian Open and while she has been in four Major finals since, the 38-year-old has yet to equal the all-time record of 24 titles.

Asked about the possibility of going level with Australian great Margaret Court, she claimed that it was "not the time to be focused on records", but instead congratulated US Open organisers for managing to pull off the event amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The morale can be really low in the world with everything that's going on. Sometimes, you just want to take your mind off," she said.

"People have been doing that for generations through sport. That's one of the reasons I was so supportive of the US Open."

Her sister Venus, making her 22nd US Open appearance, fell at the first hurdle to Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 5-7.

Belgium's Kim Clijsters, making the second comeback of her career and her first appearance at a Grand Slam since 2012, also bowed out. She lost to Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 5-7, 1-6.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES

US OPEN

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