NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Former champion Andy Murray produced an astonishing fightback to outlast Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(4) 6-4 in his long-awaited return to Grand Slam singles action in the U.S. Open first round on Tuesday (Sept 1).
The 33-year-old Briton, contesting a singles match at a major for the first since the 2019 Australian Open, appeared to be heading for an early exit as a fearless Nishioka outplayed him for two sets on a virtually empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Yet as he has so often done in his career Murray simply refused to accept defeat.
Desperately trying to spark himself into life, Murray recovered from a break down in the third set and saved a match point late in the fourth.
At the start of the fifth set he required treatment on his battered toes and then slipped a break behind again before roaring back to finally crush 49th-ranked Nishioka's spirit and claim victory in four hours 38 minutes.
It was Murray's 10th win from two sets down and showed that despite undergoing two hip surgeries, he remains one of the sport's great warriors.
"I'm tired, my toes are the worst part, my big toes are pretty beat up," Murray, whose emotional defeat in five sets against Roberto Bautista Agut in Melbourne in 2019 looked like ending his career, said on court.
"At the beginning I was apprehensive about playing a long match because I've not played one for a while and I was sort of pacing myself. But when I was two sets down I managed to put the afterburners on and managed to get through."
Murray 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," Murray said.
Murray, who claimed the first of his three Grand Slam titles in New York in 2012, looked off the pace as left-hander Nishioka dominated from the baseline to take the first set.
He then fell away badly and was a point away from going 0-5 down in the second set before clawing his way back into the set.
Nishioka held firm though to claim it and was 3-1 ahead in the third before Murray's comeback began.
