Great Britain's Andy Murray fought back against a physically jaded Matteo Berrettini to progress to the second round of the Miami Open on Wednesday.
The three-time Grand Slam winner - who triumphed at the Masters tournament in 2009 and 2013 - prevailed 4-6 6-3 6-4 against the injury-plagued Italian, who appeared to be on the verge of fainting during the second set.
Berrettini, who entered the Miami Open with a protected ranking after a series of injuries, had to use his racket to prevent him from collapsing on the court before having his heart rate and blood pressure checked by the medical team.
The 27-year-old valiantly soldiered on into the third set, but his movement was noticeably impaired, and Murray capitalised with a hard-fought break in the first game of the decider before beating away three break points to triumph.
The former world number one has now drawn level with Berrettini at 3-3 in their head-to-head series, having also memorably sunk the Italian during a five-set classic in the first round of last year's Australian Open.
Murray now coincidentally faces a rematch with the man who knocked him out of the first round of the 2024 Australian Open, Argentinian 29th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry, for the chance to face Tomas Machac or Andrey Rublev in the last 32.
© Reuters
Earlier in the day, Murray's countryman Jack Draper made light work of Japan's Taro Daniel in his Miami opener, strolling to a 6-3 6-2 success with just 69 minutes on the clock.
Making amends for his first-round Indian Wells exit to Christopher O'Connell, where a 6-1 first-set success was for nought, Draper registered a massive 10 aces, underscoring his dedication to improving his service game.
The British number two lost just one of his 29 first-serve points against Daniel, who in contrast did not manage to bring up a single chance to break Draper and was only able to save one of the four he faced.
The 22-year-old required just one break in the sixth game to clinch the first set before an overwhelmed Daniel lost serve in the third and seventh games of the second set, where Draper converted his first match point with a blistering cross-court winner.
Having prevailed in his maiden meeting with Daniel, Draper now gears up to clash with another first-time opponent in Chile's Nicolas Jarry, who enters the Masters tournament in the second round as the 22nd seed.
Before Draper bids for a first-ever third-round appearance at the Miami Open, Dan Evans - who sits just one place below the 22-year-old in the ATP rankings at 43 - is in action against Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, bidding to end a three-match losing run.
Ben Knapton
