Five-time finalist Sir Andy Murray has added to his Australian Open legend with an heroic five-set first-round victory over Italian ace Matteo Berrettini.
The veteran father-of-four wound back the clock to save a match point and beat the highly-rated 13th seed 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (10-6) in a four-hour, 49-minute thriller on Tuesday.
Murray's win was the 35-year-old's first over a top-20 rival at a grand slam since he toppled then-world No.9 Kei Nishikori at the 2017 French Open.
It also reversed a four-set third-round loss to Berrettini at the US Open in September, and teed up a second-round clash with either Thanasi Kokkinakis or Fabio Fognini.
Victory, however hard earned, was nothing less than Murray deserved.
Defeat from two sets up would have been another cruel, cruel blow for the former world No 1.
In fact, no man in grand slam history has endured five finals defeats at the same major without getting their hands on the trophy.
That the Scottish braveheart is still playing is somewhat of a tennis miracle after Murray tearfully announced he was likely to retire in 2019 after going out in the first round.
The former world No 1 has undergone several rounds of hip surgery to keep his career somehow going.
Berrettini also became the fifth victim of the 'Netflix curse' - that is, the fifth player to star in the newly released 'Break Point' series to either withdraw from the Australian Open or suffer an early exit.
World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz, fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa and top-ranked Australians Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic were all forced out of the Open with injuries after starring in the series.
Berrettini, who is also Tomljanovic's ex-boyfriend, mounted a brave fight-back from two-sets-to-love down but failed to complete his comeback.
The match was played under the roof at Rod Laver Arena after the Open's heat policy was implemented as temperatures in Melbourne peaked around 37 degrees Celsius outside.
