Andy Murray battles to victory on return in Washington

Andy Murray fought his way to a dramatic win over Mackenzie McDonald on his latest return from injury at the Citi Open in Washington DC.

The Briton, a three-time Grand Slam champion and former world No.1, came back from a set down and needed seven match points before eventually prevailing 3-6 6-4 7-5 at 12.45am local time.

“I wasn’t dictating many of the points,” Murray told atpworldtour.com.

“I wasn’t hitting the ball that cleanly. I just fought and tried to make it tough for him. Made a few little adjustments here and there. But mentally, it was a big one to get through.”

Murray is currently ranked 832nd after playing just three matches in 12 months because of a hip injury, and arrived in Washington having withdrawn from Wimbledon because he did not feel able to compete over the best-of-five-set format.

Lucky Number 7!@andy_murray survives marathon match against Mackenzie McDonald 3-6 6-4 7-5 to reach #CitiOpen 2R.

Meets Edmund next… pic.twitter.com/zxdhqstdgL

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 31, 2018

There were understandable signs of rust as he let an early lead slip in dropping the first set, and McDonald looked to be closing in when he led by a set and 4-3.

However, a missed drive volley halted the world No.80’s hopes of a potentially decisive break and Murray took charge, winning five straight games to lead by an early break in the decider.

Murray held off the 23-year-old American to move within sight of victory, but three unforced errors and some spirited defence from McDonald saw five match points slip away.

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McDonald levelled at 5-5 only to hand back the initiative after a bizarre error at 30-30, when he reached across the net to tap away a simple volley and was called for a fault by the umpire.

Given a second chance to serve out the match, Murray saw a sixth match point disappear with a fizzing McDonald pass before finally converting at the seventh time of asking – after two hours and 36 minutes – and letting out a huge roar of delight and relief.

“It was a tough, tough match,” added Murray.

“It could have gone either way. Obviously if you lose a match like that, it’s a tough one. When I lost to [Teymuraz] Gabashvili here [three years ago], I lost serving for the match, so I was thinking about that a little bit, too. It is just nice to get through.”

Murray will face fellow Briton and fourth seed Kyle Edmund in round two.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev and American John Isner are the top seeds in Washington.