Former world number one Andy Murray survived a first-round scare against 20-year-old Emilio Nava to beat the American 5-7 6-3 6-1 6-0 and progress to the third round of the US Open on Wednesday.
The 2012 champion got the better of Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets during their first-round battle but initially struggled to cope with the raw power of Nava's forehand.
Murray was presented with five opportunities to break the 20-year-old's serve early on, but he failed to take any of them and was broken himself courtesy of a well-executed smash from his opponent.
Nava had previously shanked a couple of similar attempts before moving 5-3 up and being presented with the chance to serve for the first set, but Murray broke straight back after Nava thought the Brit's backhand was wide.
The home favourite was not to be denied, though, and one of the shots of the tournament so far - a deep angled forehand across the court - saw him clinch the first set and threaten a shock result.
The world number 200 continued to hold his own early in the second set but was broken for 2-3 after Murray managed to miraculously return a volley, ultimately taking the set after Nava's wide forehand.
Murray soon began to find his groove and force Nava into more errors, one of which saw the three-time Grand Slam winner level the match at 1-1 after his counterpart netted a forehand.
.@andy_murray is advancing on 👉 pic.twitter.com/E0lf8kTVyS
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 31, 2022
Despite demonstrating admirable vigour and heart in the early stages, the up-and-coming Nava ultimately could not keep the intensity up during the third and fourth sets, winning just one more game.
Meanwhile, Murray began to cut much less of a frustrated figure after appearing somewhat discontent in the first set, and he will take on Italian 13th seed Matteo Berrettini in round three.
"My movement is by far the best it has been in a long time and it has obviously been a big part of my game. I feel like I'm getting closer to where I want to be," Murray said on his on-court interview.
"Physically this is the best I've felt in the past few years. I think I started to take the ball on a little bit more, he was dictating a lot of the points.
"I started to hit the ball deeper and I think his level dropped a bit. But he's a brilliant young player and he's going to have a very bright future."
Compatriots Jack Draper, Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie will all be aiming to join Murray in the third round of the men's singles, with the trio set to take on Felix Auger-Aliassime, James Duckworth and Joao Sousa respectively.
However, there was further disappointment for Great Britain on the women's side after Emma Raducanu's title defence ended at the first hurdle to Alize Cornet, as Harriet Dart lost 4-6 0-6 to Hungary's Dalma Galfi.
Ben Knapton
