Britain’s Andy Murray marked his return to the Australian Open – where in 2019 he thought he might have to retire – with a tense five-set win over Georgian 21st seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Murray cruised to the first set in 23 minutes but any hopes of a routine win disappeared as Basilashvili recovered.
Momentum swung both ways before the wildcard won 6-1 3-6 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4.
Murray, a five-time beaten finalist in Melbourne, will play Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel in the second round on Thursday.
“It’s amazing,” Murray said shortly after winning on John Cain Arena, where he lost to Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in 2019.
“It’s been a tough three or four years but I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get here.
“I’ve played on this court many times and the atmosphere is always incredible.
“It is where I thought I had potentially played my last match but to win a five-set battle like that, I couldn’t have asked any more.”
Emma Raducanu shone at a grand slam again as she marked her Australian Open debut with victory in the battle of the US Open champions against Sloane Stephens.
The 19-year-old has found wins hard to come by since her extraordinary success in New York in September but, back on the big stage, Raducanu came up with the right formula again to claim a 6-0 2-6 6-1 victory.
She lost just four points in a startling first set that admittedly was woeful from Stephens before the American hit her stride in the second.
That set up a first ever decider at this level for Raducanu, and she could not have handled it any better, keeping her cool and striking the ball with confidence to clinch victory after an hour and 45 minutes.
Former finalist Petra Kvitova suffered a “painful” first-round defeat by Sorena Cirstea on the second day of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Czech Kvitova was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Romania’s Cirstea in just 72 minutes.
Kvitova, who lost to Cirstea in the second round at last year’s tournament, has not gone beyond the third round of a Grand Slam since the 2020 US Open.
Kvitova, often a crowd favourite in Melbourne, made 39 unforced errors and hit six double faults against Cirstea.
“This loss is very painful – in the first round after like a whole month [in Australia],” Kvitova said.
“I did have some health issues the whole month as well, so it was tough to practise.
“The season is long, so I hope that it will turn around.”
