True grit: Andy Murray rallies from two sets down to progress at US Open

Before they stepped on court, there was nothing to suggest Andy Murray would have any trouble against Adrian Mannarino in the US Open’s second round.

Murray, after all, is seeded No 3, owns two major championships including at Flushing Meadows in 2012, and had reached at least the quarter-finals at the last 18 grand slam tournaments he’d entered. Mannarino, meanwhile, is ranked 35th, has never won a tour-level title, and only three times in his career has even managed to win more than one match at a major.

So it certainly came as a surprise when, in Thursday’s opening game, Mannarino broke Murray. About an hour later, Mannarino grabbed the opening set. And 45 minutes after that, the Frenchman took the second set, too.

“I just had to kind of tell myself that I would get there eventually,” Murray said. “I had time to get back into it.”

Despite a stuffy nose and scratchy throat, and generally looking as if he might be ready to wilt on another steamy day at Flushing Meadows – two more mid-match retirements, including by 28th-seeded Jack Sock of the United States, raised the total to 12 in the men’s draw so far – Murray put together his eighth career comeback from a two-set deficit and beat Mannarino 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

“He was looking for his rhythm,” Mannarino said, “and then I think that finally he found it.”