Madrid Open: Murray overcomes Thiem in first clay-court challenge in 2 years

Great Britain`s Andy Murray returns the ball to Austria`s Dominic Thiem during their 2022 ATP Tour Madrid Open tennis tournament singles match at the Caja Magica in Madrid. Pic/AFP

Great Britain's Andy Murray, who returned to clay for the first time in nearly two years, defeated Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-3, 6-4 to secure a Round-of-32 clash against Denis Shapovalov at the Madrid Open here.

Murray was ranked world No.1 in the ATP Rankings when he last took the court at the Madrid Open in 2017 and his performance against the Austrian on Monday night belied his current world ranking of No.78.

It was the two-time Madrid champion's first victory on the surface since the 2017 French Open quarter-finals, when he beat Kei Nishikori of Japan.

"I enjoyed it. I prepared really hard before coming here," Murray told atptour.com.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever