Andy Murray and Dan Evans pulled off an extraordinary comeback to beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel in the first round of the Olympic men’s doubles competition at Roland Garros on Sunday.
The British duo saved five match points to squeeze past their opponents 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9 in a win that also staves off Murray’s retirement from the sport. He has said that the Paris Games will be his last tournament.
Murray, the first men’s tennis player to claim two Olympic singles gold medals, said he would not compete in the singles to focus on doubles in his final tournament before retirement.
After losing the first set and going down 4-2 in the second, the British pair stormed back thanks to a strong net game, pushing the Japanese duo to a tiebreak to win the second set.
Nishikori and Daniel quickly took the lead in the match tiebreak, but the Brits hit back, saving five match points before closing the contest out in a little over two hours.
Information from Reuters contributed to this report