Andy Murray evoked memories of some of his finest career performances as he recovered to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis in five sets at Australian Open 2023.
The former world No.1, and three-time major champion, trailed Kokkinakis by two-sets-to-love and 2-5 in the third set, before staging a comeback that forced us to consult – and in some places re-write – the tennis record books.
Murray, a five-time AO finalist, is now through to the third round, where he will face No.24 seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
Here are some of the numbers that help explain how he got there.
10: The number of Grand Slam matches in which Murray has recovered from two-sets-to-love down to win – a record.
1: The number of times that Murray has now completed this feat at the Australian Open.
4: The number of times Murray’s matches have extended to five sets, in his past five AO matches – he has won three of them.
10: The number of sets Murray has played to reach the third round at Australian Open 2023.
13: The total number of unforced errors Murray committed in sets 4 and 5 against Kokkinakis, compared with 28 winners.
20: The number of times in a row Murray has beaten a local player at their home Grand Slam, a streak dating back to 2006.
27: The number of minutes it took to complete the first two games of the fourth set.
2017: The last time Murray reached this stage of the Australian Open; six years ago at AO 2017 he reached the fourth round.
5 hours, 45 minutes: The longest match of Murray’s career – eclipsing his five-hour, seven-minute loss to Juan Martin del Potro in a 2016 Davis Cup tie – and the second longest match in Australian Open history, just eight minutes short of the AO 2012 final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
MORE: All the results from AO 2023
DRAW: Australian Open 2023 men's singles
4:05am: The time at which Murray sealed victory over Kokkinakis with a backhand winner, making it the second-latest finishing match in AO history (behind Hewitt-Baghdatis, at 4:34am, in 2008) and the third-latest in tennis history overall.
250: Number of Grand Slam matches Murray has now played, the seventh-most among men in the Open era. He has won 198 of those matches (or 79.2 per cent).