Murray upsets Berrettini in Beijing, Djokovic advances in Tokyo

Murray Mania is mounting…again.

Well, Andy Murray is not exactly dominating the Asian swing like he did in 2016 nor treating the British crowd to Wimbledon titles, but his comeback from hip surgery could not be going any better.

The 32-year-old Scot picked up his biggest win rankings-wise in more than a year and arguably his most important win since the 2017 French Open when he upset world No. 13 Matteo Berrettini 7-6(2), 7-6(7) in the China Open first round on Tuesday afternoon. Murray needed two hours and one minute to take down the recent U.S. Open semifinalist. The three-time Grand Slam champion trailed by a break in each set–including 5-2 in the first–but battled back on both occasions and also saved two set points in the second. He clinched victory with a mini-break at 8-7 when Berrettini netted a backhand volley.

In addition to breaking Beijing’s eighth seed twice, Murray delivered an impressive serving performance. The world No. 503 put 69 percent of his first serves in play and fired eight aces without double-faulting a single time.

“I feel like I’m hitting the ball pretty clean,” said Murray, who also reached the second round last week in Zhuhai. “Things are going in the right direction.”

He is clearly making strides since losing the first two ATP-level matches of his comeback from February hip surgery (to Richard Gasquet in Cincinnati and Tennys Sandgren in Winston-Salem).

“I didn’t really feel like I was playing at a great level [against Gasquet in Cincinnati],” he admitted after beating Berrettini. “Whereas even last week although I lost in the second round (to eventual champion Alex de Minaur), I felt like I was playing tour-level tennis. Last week was a big step for me. Now I just need to try and get the matches, get them consistently, so that I’m used to playing three, four matches in a week.

“Right now, at this level, I don’t know if I’m ready to do that or not. So the more I can get through these sort of matches like I did today, I’ll get there a little bit quicker.”

At the Japan Open, meanwhile, Novak Djokovic won his first match since the U.S. Open with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of qualifier Alexei Popyrin. Djokovic has returned earlier than expected from a shoulder injury that forced him to retire from a fourth-round match at Flushing Meadows against Stan Wawrinka.

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