Andy Murray overcame Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5 6-2 in their first ATP head-to-head match at the Gijon Open ATP 250 tournament.
Davidovich Fokina earned an early break in the first game of the opening set. Murray saved a double break point at 2-4 30-40 with a forehand volley to hold serve for 3-4 before winning 10 of the next 13 games.
Murray earned two breaks in the eighth and twelfth games to win the first set 7-5.
The double Olympic and Wimbledon champion went up a double break in the second and sixth games to race out to a 5-1 lead. Davidovich Fokina pulled one break back on his third opportunity. Murray converted his third break point in the eighth game to close out the second set 6-2.
Murray will face either Pedro Cachin or qualifier Alexey Valutin in the second round.
“In the first set he was playing much better than me. He had a lot of chances to get the second break of serve and I managed to stay to stay tough in these moments. At the 4-3 game he played a bad game to give me the break back and after that and after that I started to play a little bit better. I think he was a bit frustrated and then in the second set his level dropped a little bit, but the end of the first set was very important because he was playing very well and it was a difficult first set”, said Murray.
