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Australia Open: Murray beats Marchenko to reach 2nd round

Monday, 16 January 2017 6:59 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 16 January 2017 6:59 PM ]

Britain's Andy Murray hits a return against Ukraine's Illya Marchenko during their men's singles match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 16, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The world no.1 Andy Murray has started his campaign at the 1st grand slam of the season with a straight sets victory over Ukraine’s Illya Marchenko.

The Brit made his 1st appearance at the Australian Open as the world number one on Monday, but he was made to work hard for the 1st round victory.

Murray committed 3 double faults in the opening game, and it took him about an hour to take the first set 7-5. The 29-year old dropped his serve early in the 2nd set, but fought back and took it after a tie-break.

The 3rd set, however, wasn’t that close. With Marchenko’s resistance finally broken, Murray easily took the set 6-2 to close out the win in 2 hours and 50 minutes. Next up for Murray is a 2nd-round encounter with Russia’s Andrey Rublev.

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