World No. 1 Andy Murray held his nerve to defeat Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Dubai Open, on Tuesday evening.
Watch Andy Murray slice and dice on match point to make it through to Dubai R2 https://t.co/mdF326Lro4
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 28, 2017
It was Jaziri who opened aggressively against the top-seed, breaking him in the third game of the first set. But he was unable to consolidate his early lead as Murray broke him back promptly to level the set at two games apiece. The set remained on serve until the 10th game, when Murray broke through Jaziri’s defences to get himself a crucial break, and a one set lead in the match.
Both players held their service games to start off the second set, but a break in the fourth game saw Murray go up 3-1 in the set, even as Jaziri called for the trainer, complaining of dizziness.
While Jaziri did take a medical time-out (MTO) during the changeover after the fifth game, he looked to have lost the momentum with which he had begun the match. A second break of serve in the sixth game allowed Murray the opportunity to serve out for the match in the seventh game of the set.
Down 0-40 on his own serve, Jaziri stops play and asks for the physio. Had received a time violation warning moments earlier
— Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) February 28, 2017
Murray will play Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round. The Spaniard, who played his first round match on Monday, had defeated Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, 6-4, 6-3.