Associated Press2 Minute Reading
BEIJING — Alex de Minaur rallied from a break down in the deciding set to defeat three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6) on Thursday in the first round of the China Open. .
The 12th-ranked Australian trailed 5-3 in the third set with Murray serving for the match but recovering before winning a tense tiebreaker to advance to the second round.
Eight of the top-10-ranked players are in Beijing for the China Open, including Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev.
Second-ranked Alcaraz will open against qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Friday for his first competition since reaching the semifinals of the US Open. Medvedev will face Tommy Paul in the first round with de Minaur awaiting the second seeded Russian in the next round.
In other first round matches, Tomas Martin Etcheverry defeated Lloyd Harris 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-3 and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina defeated Chinese wild card Yi Zhou 6-2. , 6-2.
At the Astana Open, Marcos Giron defeated two-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6) in a match where neither player has a break or even a break-point opportunity.
In other first-round matches, sixth-seeded Adrian Mannarino defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (4), 6-2, Gregoire Barrere lost to qualifier Jurij Rodionov 2-6, 6-4, 7- 6 (5), and qualifier Sho Shimabukuro defeated Roberto Carballes Baena, 6-2, 6-4.
Top-seeded Ons Jabeur defeated Russian wild card Vera Zvonareva, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals of the Ningbo Open. Jabeur will next play third-ranked Katerina Siniakova or Nadia Podoroska.
The second-seeded Petra Kvitova lost to Diana Shnaider, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. Shnaider will next face Linda Fruhvirtova, who defeated the eighth seeded Lucia Bronzetti 6-0, 6-3.
Fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari defeated Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-1 in the final match of the Japanese player’s career to reach the Toray Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals in Tokyo.
Sakkari will next face fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia, who defeated Anhelina Kalinina 6-4, 6-3.
Also, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Linda Noskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, and sixth seed Daria Kasatkina defeated qualifier Despina Papamichail 6-4, 6-4.