Andy Murray's still got it. On a historic night-turned-early-morning at Melbourne Park, the 35-year-old former world No. 1 and 2012 US Open champion won the longest match of his career in the second round of the Australian Open.
Murray's 4-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-5 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis lasted 5 hours and 45 minutes, six minutes shorter than the longest match in tournament history: the 2012 men's singles final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Murray's previous longest career match clocked in at 5 hours and 7 minutes.
Beginning Thursday night inside Margaret Court Arena, the match ended just after 4 a.m. on Friday, also falling just short of the latest-ever finish in Australian Open history; in 2008, Lleyton Hewitt beat Marcos Baghdatis in a match that ended at 4:34 a.m., the record for any Grand Slam event.
"It was unbelievable that I managed to turn that around," Murray said in his on-court interview afterwards. "Thanasi was playing, serving unbelievable, hitting his forehand huge, and I don't know how I managed to get through it.
"I started playing better as the match went on, and yeah, I have a big heart."
Murray also saved match point against Matteo Berrettini in Round 1 five-setter that lasted 4 hours and 49 minutes. In that match, Murray led by two sets, saw Berrettini get even, and saved a match point in the final set before prevailing in a 10-point match tiebreak, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(6). Against Kokkinakis, he found himself in the reverse position: Not only was he down two sets, but Kokkinakis served for a straight-sets win at 5-3 in the third set.
Murray's last win from two-sets down came at the 2020 US Open, a 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 6-4 triumph over Yoshihito Nishioka. He has five such wins in New York, but the win against Kokkinakis was his first comeback of this nature in Australia.
"I've done it before," Murray said of his 11th career win from two sets down. "I have experience of it, and I just rely on that experience, that drive and that fight, and my love of the game and competing, my respect for this event and the competition. That's why I kept going."
The statsheet from the history-making affair was just as tight as the final score. Murray won 196 points, to Kokkinakis' 192, and they combined to hit 171 winners to only 107 unforced errors. Kokkinakis, in fact, hit 102 of thos winners himself, including a staggering 37 aces.
Murray has been runner-up at the Australian Open five times. A third-round showing is his best result in Melbourne since he reached the last 16 in 2017, the year prior to the first of two hip surgeries that have been watershed moments in his later career.
He'll next fact Roberto Bautista Agut, who famously defeated him in a five-setter in the first round of the 2019 Australian Open. At the start of that event, Murray floated the idea of retiring from tennis due to his nagging hip problem; ultimately, and after the tournament played an on-court tribute video celebrating the Scot and his impending retirement, he elected to have a second hip surgery and prolonged his career.
