For the first time since finishing as year-end no. 1 back in 2016, Andy Murray won more than 25 ATP matches in one season as he defeated Roman Safiullin at the 2022 Swiss Indoors in Basel.
The Scot had to fight really hard in the first-round match against his Russian opponent, especially, when he was 1-4 down in the third set. However, also thanks to an underarm serve that didn't go well for his opponent, Andy Murray won the last five games of the match and secured a second-round spot in Switzerland.
Safiullin was 4-2 up when he faced two break points. He managed to do well on the first one, but chose to use an underarm serve on the second one and that didn't help him a lot as he then lost the point and his one-break advantage.
Underarm serve is also something that Murray used before and after the match, former world no. 1 praised his opponent and paradoxically, his serve.
“He was serving huge and any opportunity he was hitting the ball huge from the back of the court,” Murray said. “As the match went on, I started to dictate a few more points and served better. I changed the way I was returning a little bit and when I did that I was able to create a few more opportunities and frustrate him a little bit.”
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