Andy Murray pulls out another 3-set victory at Indian Wells

Threetime Grand Slam champion Andy Murray remained unbeaten this season in matches that go to a deciding third or fifth set by coming back to beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 67 5 61 64 across more than three hours in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open on ThursdayMurray a 35yearold who has an artificial hip faced a pair of break points while serving at 1540 and already trailing 43 in the final set Convert either of those chances and Etcheverry would have served for the victoryBut 2009 Indian Wells runnerup Murray managed to hold there beginning a threegame matchending run against Etcheverry a 21yearold from Argentina who is ranked 61st after reaching the final of a tournament in Santiago Chile last weekSo far in 2023 Murray is 50 in bestofthreeset matches that last three sets along with 20 in bestoffive matches that go five He is 03 in contests that conclude earlierAnother man who owns three major titles Stan Wawrinka made a successful return to the hardcourt tournament in the California desert after four years away beating qualifier Aleksandar Vukic 64 16 61Wawrinka a 37yearold who has been ranked as high as No 3 and is now No 100 after a series of operations to his left foot and left knee hit 10 aces and won 28 of 33 firstserve points His previous match in Indian Wells was a loss to Swiss Davis Cup teammate Roger Federer in the third round in 2019Wawrinka will face No 26 seed Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round at the first Masters 1000 tournament of the seasonDominic Thiem who won the Indian Wells title in 2019 and the US Open a year later was scheduled for firstround action later on Day 2Emma Raducanu who won the 2021 US Open as a teenage qualifier was back on court Thursday for the first time since January after having tonsillitis and fell behind 20 in each set during what would become a 62 63 victory over Danka KovinicAnother 20yearold Ben Shelton trailed 20 at the outset against Fabio Fognini before taking 12 of the last 15 games to win 64 61 Shelton the 2022 NCAA singles champion at the University of Florida who hadnt won a match since reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals will take on No 4 seed and defending champion Taylor Fritz nextAlso readAndy Murray saves 5 match points in another marathon encounter to roar into Qatar Open finalFognini was warned for an audible obscenity and for taking too much time getting ready to return serves he also spiked a racket during the match but wasnt cited by the chair umpire for thatThanasi Kokkinakis claimed 32 of 34 points he served in a 64 61 victory over wildcard entry Brandon Holt to earn a matchup on Saturday against reigning US Open champion and No 1 seed Carlos AlcarazDanielle Collins the 2022 Australian Open runnerup lost a second consecutive match against an opponent ranked outside the top 50 knocked out 64 64 by 80thranked Dalma Galfi Galif had lost in qualifying but moved into the main draw when someone withdrew Collins delivered only nine winners while making 41 unforced errorsVarvara Gracheva who qualified for Indian Wells after reaching the final at Austin Texas last week defeated Ysaline Bonaventure 62 62 Katerina Siniakova beat Jule Niemeier 75 64 and Jil Teichmann was a 61 64 winner over Ashlyn KruegerIn other results Jack Draper overwhelmed qualifier Leandro Riedi 61 61 to set up an allBritish matchup against No 24 Dan Evans Mackenzie McDonald defeated Filip Krajinovic 63 60 and Marton Fucsovics beat JJ Wolf 16 60 63This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever