Murray fights off Marchenko, fourth seed Halep stunned

TIL Desk Sports/ Andy Murray dug himself out of a number of holes before defeating Illya Marchenko 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-2 to reach the second round of the Australian Open on Monday. Top seed Murray conceded a 5-2 lead in a first set in which he landed less than half of his first serves, and was down 4-2 after being broken early in the second at Rod Laver Arena. But the Briton rallied, yelling his way through the flat patches before finding his range in the third set as the shadows crept across the centre court.

Three-time grand slam champion Murray will next play Russian qualifier Andrey Rublev as he bids for a maiden title at Melbourne Park after five defeats in the final. At 36, Williams is the oldest woman in the singles draw at Melbourne Park and seeded 13th for her open era record-extending 73rd appearance at a grand slam. Like sister Serena, she rested up for the last couple of months of 2016 before returning at the Auckland Classic two weeks ago.

The American could quite easily have put the loss of her opening service game on Monday down to rustiness but instead gave credit to 22-year-old world number 101 Kozlova. “She played amazing,” Williams said. “Hardly any errors, she played amazing defence. She didn’t make it easy, so it’s really satisfying to get past a player who’s on fire.”