Andy Murray labours past Michael Berrer in round one – Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2012
British number one, Andy Murray, was stretched to his limits by the 116th ranked German, Michael Berrer, before he eventually defeated him in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
The third seed Scott battled for two hours and six minutes before settling the three-setter at 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, to book a spot in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
The enthralling contest was played on the hard courts of Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a huge crowd coming out to witness the world number four putting up a quality display of tennis. Murray kept
his clean record against Berrer, nailing him for a third straight time to lead 3-0 in the all-time head-to-head series. He overpowered the German twice last year, registering straight sets victories in assertive fashion but had to go through some tough channels
to take him down on Tuesday.
Murray was off to a flyer in the contest, blasting through the opening set to get one up early but a tremendous comeback from Berrer in the second set stunned everyone. The crafty German outplayed Murray to level the contest at
one set apiece and his aggressive game play was threatening a major upset of the tournament. The third seed Briton came back very strongly in the decisive set and showed his true class to overwhelm Berrer in the last stages of the match, registering a resounding
victory in the end.
"At the start of the match I didn't feel great," said Murray after winning his 11th match of the 2012 ATP season. "It was one of those strange sets. It was quite a frustrating match because I was up a break twice in
the second set, and each time I think gave it straight back. I could have made it a little bit easier for myself if I played a bit better."
The third seed converted six out of 12 break opportunities in the match and suffered five cracking ones from his German opponent, yet winning the contest in a convincing fashion. Murray is slated to face the Swiss qualifier, Marco
Chiudinelli, in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships later this week. Chiudinelli struck a huge upset by defeating the former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, in the opening round of the tournament.
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