FIVE-TIME Australian Open finalist Andy Murray advanced to the second round of the Sydney Tennis Classic by beating Viktor Durasovic 6-3, 6-1 today.

The Scot entered the tournament with a wild card and has also been handed one for next week’s Australian Open. 

Since he last reached the Australian Open final in 2016, when he lost to Novak Djokovic, the 34-year-old Murray has only made it past the first round once at Melbourne Park.

Recurring hip injuries have meant he has played only one of the past four Australian Opens. The former world number one is now 135th.

The three-time Grand Slam champion forced Durasovic into numerous errors.

“I was hoping to get the matches in Melbourne,” Murray said, referring to a first-round loss last week. “That didn’t happen, but thankfully Tennis Australia gave me the wild card to play here. I’m very grateful for that and hopefully I can be here for a few more days.”

Murray will next face 23rd-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili on Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals.

Also in Sydney, US Open champion Emma Raducanu lost to ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina 6-0, 6-1. 

The 19-year-old Londoner had delayed the start of her season, withdrawing from the Melbourne Summer Set last week following her bout with Covid-19.

Olympic champion Belinda Bencic made a successful but “wobbly” start to the 2022 season in her first match since being struck down by Covid. The Swiss player beat Brazilian qualifier Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the second round in Sydney.

“I was struggling a little bit, getting to practise after Covid, because the pulse was getting up and the fatigue was still there,” Bencic said. “I think I still have room to feel better and my fitness has to get better. I still feel a little bit wobbly.”

At the Adelaide International, second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka lost another first-round match at an Australian Open warm-up tournament to a much lower-ranked opponent.
The Belarusian lost to Rebecca Peterson of Sweden 5-7, 6-1, 7-5. Peterson came into the match ranked number 395. Last week in the opening round of the first Adelaide International tournament, Sabalenka lost to 100th-ranked Kaja Juvan 7-6 (6), 6-1.

In other first-round matches in Adelaide, Madison Brengle beat Anastasia Potapova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 and fourth-seeded Tamara Zidansek defeated former British number one Heather Watson 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4).