US Open: Andy Murray fights back to defeat Emilio Nava in second round

Andy Murray arrived at Arthur Ashe Stadiumconscious of the fact that this was a match he could not afford to lose.

Over the past year, Murray has recorded a number of strong wins against highly ranked players, but he has often been unable to use them as catalysts for deeper runs or greater consistency. After a great straight sets first‑round win against Francisco Cerundolo, the 24th seed, it was essential that he consolidated his form appropriately in a match he was heavily favoured to win.

After conceding a tough, physical first set, Murray demonstrated all of his experience as he recovered to move into the US Open third round with a convincing four-set win, defeating Emilio Nava 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 in exactly three hours.

With his victory, Murray is into the US Open third round for the first time since 2016. It is also the first time he has reached the third round of any major tournament outside of Wimbledon since 2017.

“I started to take the ball on a little bit more,” he said. “He was dictating a lot of the points in the first set. Once I started to hit the ball a little bit bigger and deeper I was able to control the points more.”

Across the net from Murray stood a talented 20 year-old American wildcard who reached two junior grand slam finals and has been trying hard to move up the rankings during a challenging transition from the junior tour. His first tour‑level win came just in the first round, defeating John Millman in five sets.

Murray was on him from the beginning, generating five break points in Nava’s first three service games. But in the long, exhausting deuce games that followed, Nava held off his opponent. Murray was eventually punished for his wastefulness as Nava finished the set flashing winners from