Andy Murray won his second-round match at the 2022 Madrid Open against Denis Shapovalov to reach the third round of the event.
The British player previously announced that he would not be playing on clay in 2022. However, he changed his mind, and it looked like he made the best possible decision.
In the first round of the 2022 Madrid Open, Murray defeated Dominic Thiem, who is coming back from an injury. In the second round of the tournament, he faced 14th-seeded Shapovalov, who was the favorite in the match.
The two met at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships when the young Canadian defeated Murray 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, and he wanted to follow up on that victory also in the Spanish capital.
However, despite not playing on the clay since 2017, Murray seems to be very strong on this surface, even in 2022. After losing the very first game of the match, the former World No. 1 player went on to win the following six games to win the first set 6-1 in just 36 minutes.
Although he lost a bit of focus in the second set after not converting two breakpoints in the fifth game and subsequently losing his serve, which cost him a set, he returned much stronger in the third set.
The third set was a one-man show by Murray, who faced only one breakpoint throughout the set and was ruthless when he had an opportunity to break his opponent, which resulted in a swift 6-2 victory.
As a result, Murray won the match 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, and in the next round, he will take on World No. 1 player and his great rival, Novak Djokovic. The Serbian player had a first-round BYE, and in the second round, he bested Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-2 to set up yet another meeting with his old rival.