Andy Murray enters second round of Indian Wells tournament post first round win over Tomas Etcheverry

Former world number one, Andy Murray defeated Tomas Etcheverry 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4 to enter the second round of the Indian Wells tournament. This is the seventh time in his career that he has won by beating the opponent in the decider to enter round two. The match got over after three hours and 12 minutes. Murray had a whopping 20 breakpoints, and the 23-year-old Argentina saved 16 of them.

“I really felt like I was in the driving seat for much of the match. I was creating lots of opportunities but I just wasn’t able to capitalize. I made some poor decisions at times, but in the end, did really well to get through that,” Murray was quoted as saying on BBC Sport.

Etcheverry got a break point for a 2-1 lead in the second set and won the tie-break for the first set 7-5. Nonetheless, Murray held onto that breakpoint before dominating the second set. In the decisive set, both players had opportunities. At 4-3, Etcheverry faced two break points, but Murray saved them with some excellent serves. He then secured the match-winning point when the Argentine double-faulted in the final set.

Andy Murray to play Pablo Carreno Busta next

“I’m not going to keep winning every three-set match that I play, but it’s been an amazing start to the year. It was still a good effort to turn that around as the first set was extremely long and I was thinking ‘here we go again’. This is a place where I haven’t always played my best tennis so I was really happy that I managed to turn that around,” asserted the 35-year-old.

“He was coming up with some big serves at times but I also felt like I made some poor decisions as well. The more chances that went by the more you think about it. I did really well to keep going in the end Another brutal match and glad I managed to get through it,” the tennis legend added.

On Saturday, March 11, Murray will lock horns against Spain’s world number 17 Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round of the Indian Wells tournament.