Murray battles past Bjorkman

Murray: Five-set win

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Andy Murray survived a stern test against Jonas Bjorkman to reach the third round of the US Open.

The British number one gave a mixed performance, dropping the first set with a basic error and then losing the fourth after a run of nine successive games had put in him control of the match.

However, he recovered his composure to win the deciding set for a 5-7 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-1 success to earn a meeting with Hyung-taik Lee after the Korean put out Guillermo Canas 7-5 7-5 6-3.

Bjorkman's recent record at Flushing Meadows is poor but the veteran Swede was a semi-finalist a decade ago and was a stubborn opponent for Murray, just back in action after a three-month injury absence.

There were some sublime moments from Murray, the 19th seed, but there were also a number of mistakes, not least the ill-advised attempted drop shot which cost him the 12th game of the match and handed Bjorkman the first set.

That error affected Murray's concentration and after missing a break point in the first game of the second set he quickly found himself a break down at 2-0.

Composure

However, he regained his composure to break back immediately and two further breaks of serve won him the second set from 3-2 down.

He maintained his momentum to win the first five games of the third set, but having fallen behind in the match Bjorkman upped his game to break early in the fourth set.

Murray broke back to level at 3-3, but missed another attempted drop to fall 5-3 behind and he was unable to recover.

The balance of power continued to shift and Murray earned a break of serve in the first game of the decider, before fending off a break point to consolidate his lead.

A further break put him 4-1 in front and from there he was able to cruise to victory, breaking again in the seventh game to seal the win.