Andy Murray earns morale-boosting win over Denis Shapovalov at Dubai Open

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.

The most recent meeting between the duo went to Murray, but that was in 2022 and he entered this match in torrid form. Shapovalov signalled his intent with three aces in his opening service game before the duo traded a number of early holds. The first break point opportunity did not occur until the ninth game and, while Murray saved it at 15-40 down, Shapovalov outlasted him in a lengthy rally on the next point to move 5-4 up.

Murray let his frustration show after his wayward backhand gifted Shapovalov the initiative and chucked his racket at the court. The Canadian closed out the opener with two more aces.

The former world No 1 produced a strong response at the start of the second set and produced three successful challenges on his serve. Murray followed up with a first break point opportunity and, while it came and went, the 36-year-old did break Shapovalov at the next time of asking to move 3-1 up.

Shapovalov had sent down two double faults to aid Murray’s cause, but hit back immediately with a break of his own before he consolidated it after a 10-minute service game that included an 137mph ace.

Murray had to display his battling skills to keep the second set on serve at 4-4 and a tie-break was ultimately required. Several mini-breaks followed, but it was Murray who made sure the match went the distance after he edged a marathon 75-minute set with an excellent trade-off with Shapovalov after he came into the net.

Shapovalov’s serve had let him down towards the end of the second set and his struggles continued with two double faults to begin the third. Murray was able to consolidate with a succession of quick holds to move within sight of a precious victory. He had to work hard to hold in the eighth game of the decider and the Canadian was broken again to hand the Briton the 500th hard-court win of his career.

“Five hundred is a lot of matches so I’m very proud of that … there’s not many players who have done that,” Murray said. Only Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal have recorded more victories on the surface.