Brisbane International: Murray fails to finish off Dimitrov, second seed through

Former world No 1 Andy Murray gave up a 1-0 set lead in the opening round of the Brisbane International presented by Evie on Monday, falling to second seed Grigor Dimitrov 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

It was a prime opportunity for the four-time Grand Slam champion to get his year off to a winning start ahead of the Australian Open in just under a fortnight’s time, but the Brit couldn’t get across the line.

In a messy first set, it was Murray who took his chances, converting the only break point of the first 10 games to go ahead 6-4. The match remained equally as tight across the initial games of the second set, with the pair holding their first four service games each, only for three consecutive breaks of serve to follow. 

Dimitrov got the better of the chaos, leveling the match at 1-1 before pulling away in the third thanks to some clean hitting that saw 13 winners and just two errors off the Bulgarian’s racquet in the deciding set.

The second seed, who had his best year last year since 2017 and is back up to No 14 in the ATP rankings, will play either Australian qualifier Li Tu or Germany’s Daniel Altmaier in the second round.

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