Andy Murray has earned his first ATP Tour-level singles win since returning from injury, having defeated world No 69 Tennys Sandgren in Zhuhai, China.
The Scot required a mammoth effort to overcome his American opponent in two hours and 40 minutes, eventually emerging victorious 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-1.
Murray squandered a match point in the second-set tie-break, but a fine display in the final set secured victory for the three-time Grand Slam champion.
Murray, who underwent a hip resurfacing operation earlier this year after considering retirement, began his comeback to tennis in June at Queen’s Club, where he lifted the doubles trophy with partner Feliciano Lopez.
After a series of doubles appearances, the former world No 1 played his first singles matches since January in Cincinnati and Winston-Salem, losing in the first round at each tournament.
Murray then dropped down to ATP Challenger level, where he gained his first singles win of the year in Mallorca.
The 32-year-old’s victory over Sandgren – who eliminated Murray in the first round of Winston-Salem – on Tuesday marks his first singles win of the year at ATP Tour level, however.
"I think that, in some ways, it’s one of the best wins that I’ve had, not in terms of just getting through that today, but everything that’s gone into getting back to this point," Murray said after the match.
“You don’t necessarily appreciate what it’s like to be healthy and stuff at the beginning of your career – it’s something that you take for granted and it’s quite easy.
“Whereas these last few years haven’t been [easy], and obviously after the operation in January it’s been difficult and it was undecided at times about whether I wanted to keep going or not.
"It’s been tough, but I’m really glad that I can actually get the win today and hopefully I’ll be able to keep going.
"Tonight I was hitting the ball well, movement was I think pretty good. I served well. Obviously there’s things that I feel I can do better, but it was definitely progress.
"I don’t know whether that’s five per cent, 10 per cent, it’s difficult to put a number on it, but I think I did a little bit better tonight than I did when we played a few weeks ago, and that’s a good thing.
“That’s what I need to keep doing the next few months and then I’ll see – at some stage the progress will stop and I’ll find out what my limit is. But it’s good to see that I’m still progressing and making improvements.”
Murray next faces seventh seed Alex De Minaur of Australia.
