Andy Murray fought again from a set right down to beat Taro Daniel 1-6 6-2 6-4 within the first spherical at Indian Wells as he secured a 700th win on the ATP Tour.
The Briton handed up two break factors within the third sport earlier than Daniel took the primary set in 28 minutes.
A extra aggressive Murray gained the second set solely to drop his serve within the first sport of the decider.
Murray regrouped, levelled at 3-3 with a superb forehand and broke Daniel at 5-4 as much as take the match.
He’ll now play Kazakhstan’s world quantity 33 Alexander Bublik within the subsequent spherical.
“It means loads,” Murray instructed Amazon Prime about reaching 700 wins. “It is a goal I set myself in direction of the top of final yr and, with every part that has gone on in the previous few years, it has not been straightforward to get there.
“Not a great deal of guys have been ready to do this so actually joyful about it.”
The match was the third time Murray had performed Japan’s Daniel this yr.
Daniel got here out on prime within the second spherical on the Australian Open earlier than Murray gained the match between them on the Qatar Open.
In California, world quantity 88 Murray’s failure to take both of the 2 break factors within the third sport of the primary set appeared to present Daniel, who’s 106 within the males’s rankings, extra confidence.
Daniel broke Murray to like in his subsequent two service video games to take a 5-1 lead and was making his opponent look torpid as he served out to convincingly win the opening set in 28 minutes.
Murray responded by breaking his opponent within the first sport of the following set and gave a fist pump after securing a double break to go 4-0 up.
Extra winners have been coming from Murray’s racquet as he benefitted from a extra optimistic method and he took the second set to degree the match.
Murray misplaced a fourth service sport to like within the first sport of the decider and threw his cap down in frustration when he despatched a excessive volley huge within the fifth sport.
However he regained his composure and went on to make it 3-3 with a forehand winner.
Murray saved a break level within the ninth sport with a courageous second serve that was an excessive amount of for Daniel to deal with and he gave out a roar when he held to go 5-4 up.
Daniel, who utterly missed a smash within the first set, shanked one other on the primary level as he served to remain within the match and, whereas he saved two match factors, he couldn’t accomplish that a 3rd time as Murray gained in a single hour and 58 minutes.
“He [Daniel] had a few matches within the qualifiers and he got here out actually sizzling however I used to be giving him that chance by leaving the ball brief,” mentioned Murray.
“Because the match went on, I began to get nearer to the baseline, timing the ball higher and I figured it out. It wasn’t straightforward.”
Murray will get again collectively once more with former coach Ivan Lendl after the Miami Masters later this month.
“He [Lendl] mentioned good luck right this moment – that is what I acquired,” mentioned Murray.
“We have spoken a bit within the final couple of weeks. We’re formally beginning after Miami. We’re hoping he is going to have the ability to come alongside and watch my matches on the event there.”
