Andy Murray Makes Emotional Return

An emotional Andy Murray made a triumphant return to hardcourts Monday in his first match on the surface for nearly 17 months, outlasting Mackenzie McDonald at the ATP Washington Open.

The three-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one, who missed 11 months with a right hip injury and surgery last January, defeated the 80th-ranked American 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, AFP reported.

Murray, who has fallen to 832nd in world tennis rankings, needed seven match points to subdue McDonald; squandering five before being broken in the 10th game of the final set before breaking back and finally ending matters after two hours and 37 minutes on Tuesday.

Murray had not played in a hardcourt match since March 2017 at Indian Wells, where he lost in his opening match.

After making his return from January hip surgery last month at Queens and Eastbourne, Murray skipped Wimbledon and began preparing for the hardcourt campaign.

Murray’s first hardcourt match in nearly 17 months, delayed three hours by rain, turned when he broke in the penultimate game of the second set and again on his fifth break chance in the opening game of the third set.