Andy Murray kicked off his Moselle Open campaign with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ugo Humbert during first-round action on Tuesday night. Murray blasted 18 aces and saved six of the seven break points he faced to prevail in two hours and 23 minutes.
The 34-year-old Scot had not defeated anyone ranked as high as Humbert (No. 26) since upsetting then-No. 7 Alexander Zverev at the 2020 Cincinnati Masters.
“I had some chances early in the first set and didn’t take them, then he had his break point at the end of the first set and hit a really good return,” Murray said of Humbert. “He then had a good hold at 5-4. He played a little bit better, and in the second and third sets it was the other way around. He didn’t play well when he had his opportunities and I took mine.
“I’ve found it tough in the past few years that I don’t know some players that well and it’s difficult to play against them and win. Today I felt I had a good game-plan and executed it pretty well.”
In one of the other most notable results of Tuesday, qualifier Holger Rune double-bageled lucky loser Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-0, 6-0.
Murray will meet Vasek Pospisil on Wednesday, while Rune will battle Lorenzo Sonego for a place in the Metz quarterfinals.
nice one, Muzz
Good for tennis to have Andy back in the mix.
The French had a fortress at Metz which was the scene of a famous battle in WW2-
they usually do pretty well in this tournament too – not this time -Monfils is the only one left