Battle of the Brits 2022: Andy Murray snatches win over Jack Draper

The Battle of the Brits featured Andy Murray against Jack Draper, with Murray winning it for Scotland. The 35-year-old player edged out Draper and secured the win with a score of 6-2 1-6 12-10.

The Murray-Draper showdown was the tournament’s second game after Dan Evans defeated Aiden McHugh at the opener. Evans tallied the first points for England after a solid 6-4 6-2 straight sets win.

Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, then secured the first points for Scotland to make it 1-1. In the third set of the game, Murray trailed by 6-3 against Draper before he leveled the points to 7-7.

The game at P&J Arena, Aberdeen, went to a final-set tie-break after Draper could not finish the game with a couple of match points.

“(It was an) unbelievable ending, I’ve not played many tie-breaks like that before,” Murray said. “I wish (I could go on forever in tennis). Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.”

Murray explained that he had missed out on playing “many tie breaks” before his matchup against Draper. When asked about the game, he described it as the most difficult in the last couple of months, forcing him to fight harder. The former 2012 US Open champion also said that he had good luck accompanying his skills to force the win.

“Will to win, fighting for every point, chasing every ball down, came up with some part-luck, part-skill shots at the end, a few of them came off,” Murray said when asked how he had managed to come out on the right side of the result.

On Thursday, the three-time grand slam champion will have a matchup against Evans before teaming up with brother Jamie on a men’s double game against England’s No. 1 men’s doubles, Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, to conclude the tournament.