Andy Murray battles to hard-fought win over Robin Haase at Rotterdam Open

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Updated 02/03/2021 at 10:17 GMT

After losing in the first round of his last tournament in Montpellier, Andy Murray showed his fighting spirit to overcome Robin Haase in the opening round of the Rotterdam Open. Murray, now ranked 123 in the world, came from a set down to win a two-and-a-half hour contest. He could face fourth seed Andrey Rublev next.

Andy Murray won his first ATP match since August as he battled to an encouraging three-set win over Robin Haase in the first round of the Rotterdam Open.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray looked as though he might be heading for a second successive first-round loss after dropping the opening set against world No 193 Haase.

But he showed his fighting spirit to win the second set and then come from 3-0 down in the decider to power to a 2-6 7-6(2) 6-3 victory.

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Murray will next face either world No 8 Andrey Rublev or Marcos Giron.

Now ranked 123 in the world as he recovers from hip surgery, Murray said this week that the most important thing for him was to get matches under his belt and “get back to winning again”.

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He started slowly against Haase, missing two break-point chances in the second game of the match and then being broken twice to drop the opening set.

But the second set was more competitive, with several lengthy rallies and Murray holding serve after a gruelling seventh game that saw him face two break points.

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The former world No 1 seemed to be finding his range and he played an excellent tie-break - bookended by a superb lob onto the baseline and a well-placed volley - to level the match.

Haase broke for 2-0 in the third set as he chased down a drop volley and flicked a backhand past Murray.

But a poor service game allowed 2009 champion Murray to break back and he finished the stronger to clinch victory as Haase faded.

Murray's fellow Brit Cameron Norrie reached the second round with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Nikoloz Basilashvili.

The 25-year-old will face Stan Wawrinka or Karen Khachanov next.

Kei Nishikori ended a four-match losing streak with a 7-6(4), 6-1 victory over seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The Canadian received on-court treatment after the first game of the second set and lost 25 of 34 points as Nishikori set up a meeting with Alex de Minaur or John Millman.

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