Andy Murray has more 'belief' in his body than he ever has in his career after Lorenzo Sonego win

Andy Murray says he has more “belief” in his body than ever after another epic win in the first round of the Qatar Open.

Murray, 35, saved three match points to beat Lorenzo Sonego 4-6 6-1 7-6(4) and set up a clash with former world No. 2 Alexander Zverev.

It was yet another show of resilience from Murray, who also saved a match point in victory over Matteo Berrettini at the Australian Open and came from two sets down to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis in a marathon contest.

Murray, who has undergone two hip surgeries, was critical of his physical level towards the end of 2022, but looks to have put in plenty of work over the last few months to get back to his desired standard.

“I have trained really well since Melbourne,” he said.

“I pushed myself physically really hard since the end of last season. Obviously, saw the benefits of that in Australia and the matches that I played, trying to carry on that path as much as I can.

“Even though tonight’s match was 7-6 in the third and it was two-and-a-half hours, the fact that I was able to play for nearly five hours against Berrettini and then physically was able to manage another really long match afterwards has given me a lot more belief in my body, maybe more than I have had at any stage in my career, to be honest, and it’s because I have not had many of those experiences of playing four hours and 50 minutes and then playing another really long match afterwards.

“So that was really positive for me. So I knew physically I was going to be okay.”

Murray holds a 2-1 win-loss record against Zverev but lost their last meeting in Indian Wells in 2021.

Zverev is returning from a serious ankle injury suffered at last year's French Open and has dropped to No. 16 in the world rankings.

“He’s obviously one of the top players in the world,” said Murray of Zverev.

“He had a bad injury last year and is just coming back from that. He’s going to be improving every week just now.

“He’s not quite at the level he was back in the middle of last year, but injuries like that take time. It will be another great match, hopefully, I can keep building on this one.”

Murray won the title in Doha in 2008 and 2009 and is now 7-0 in opening-round matches at the ATP 250 event.

Reflecting on how he was able to again come up with the goods at the key moments to beat Sonego, Murray said: “This is something that probably helped me in my career, but in those moments I find it easier to concentrate and focus.

“I feel like a strength of mine in those moments is that I’m able, because I’m concentrating really hard in those moments, is that my decision-making on the court improves because of that.”

Zverev is 3-5 for the season but says he is now playing without pain.

“I don’t have it in the back of my mind,” he said.

“A few weeks ago I used to still get signals from my foot. I used to, once in a while, still get pain. But it is in the right direction, and I feel like I can play pretty freely now. I felt that way in Rotterdam.

“I thought I played a lot better in Rotterdam than I did the previous weeks, even though I lost in the second round. But I lost in the second round to, in my opinion, a very good player, [Tallon Griekspoor], who played well that week.”

Murray and Zverev will meet on Wednesday in Doha.

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The 2023 Australian Open was live and the French Open will follow on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk