Murray through to second round with second win of 2024Briton brings up 500th hard-court victory of his career
Andy Murray dug deep to secure a second win of 2024 with a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over Denis Shapovalov in the first round of the Dubai Open. The three-time grand-slam champion has been forced to fend off retirement talk after a string of first-round defeats and looked set for another when Shapovalov, a former top-10 player, claimed the opening set.
Murray had struggled with the serve of his 24-year-old opponent, but produced a gutsy display to edge a second-set tie-break and kept his composure to break twice in the decider to secure a much-needed win after two hours and 33 minutes.