It was the first game of Andy Murray’s match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and the 2010 finalist was doing his best to get into the feel of the Australian Open third round match.
Hitting a high lob to the back of the court, he watched as Garcia-Lopez ran it down and, facing the back of the court, hit a between-the-legs shot that passed Murray for a winner.
“It was the first time someone passed me on a through-the-legs shot on the tour,” Murray said. “It was a very close one on the line.”
Instead of marvelling too long at one of the more unusual shots in tennis - like Roger Federer’s similar crosscourt winner against Novak Djokovic at the 2009 U.S. Open - Murray broke the Spanish player’s serve and went on to beat Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.
Garcia-Lopez might have had the most flamboyant shot of the match, but Murray had more of the most effective ones, putting him closer to his second straight Australian Open final.
“The first game doesn’t always dictate the way the match is going to go, but it definitely helped today,” said Murray.
