A vintage Andy Murray weathered a gallant fightback from Matteo Berrettini before dumping the 13th-seeded Italian out of the Australian Open first round with an epic 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (10-6) win on Tuesday.
With the crowd largely in the palm of his hand, the 35-year-old Scot raced out of the blocks to take the first two sets under the roof at Rod Laver Arena only to fall — almost inevitably — into a long, attritional scrap.
A five-time runner-up in the tournament but never the winner, little has come easy for Murray at Melbourne Park, and so it proved again as Berrettini emerged from a long off-court break between sets ready to level the match.