Andy Murray has returned to the winners’ circle after fighting back from a set down to defeat top seed Tommy Paul at the Aix-en-Provence Open in France.
The three-time Grand Slam won 12 out of the last 15 games played during his 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, triumph over the world No.17. It is the third time Murray has beaten a top 20 player on the Tour this season after Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open and Alexander Zverev at the Doha Open. Against Paul, the Brit won 68% of his service points and broke his opponent four times.
“This last year, 18 months has been a bit of a struggle with my game. But [my team] have been there supporting me and working with me to try and get better,” atptour.com quoted Murray as saying during the trophy presentation. “We keep going from here.”
Murray entered into the tournament with the help of a last-minute wildcard following his first round exit at the Madrid Masters to Andrea Vavassori. In Aix-en-Provence he only dropped two sets in five matches played with one of those being in the final against Paul. The other was to France’s Laurent Lokoli in the second round. It is the first time he has won a Challenger event since 2005.
The triumph comes after what has been a lacklustre clay swing so far for the former world No.1. In Monte Carlo he described his loss to Alex de Minaur as one of the worst performances of his career and cast doubts over his future intentions of playing tournaments on the surface. Murray is yet to confirm if he will be playing at this year’s French Open which will begin at the end of the month.
Although there is now an extra incentive for Murray who is set to rise to No.42 in the ATP Pepperstone rankings on Monday which will be his highest position since May 2018. Should he produce another strong performance in Rome next week he could climb high enough to be seeded for Roland Garros, as well as Wimbledon later this year.
This week is the first time Murray has won a title of any sort since winning an ATP 250 event in Antwerp back in 2019. It is the first time he has won a trophy on the clay since Rome 2016.
