Andy Murray, who has been trying to return to the top for several months, advanced to the second round of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 on Friday, winning 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 the 700th victory of his career against Taro Daniel .
The Scot, 88th in the world, who got his revenge from the Japanese who eliminated him at the Australian Open in January, will face the Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the next round (cheap N.31).
The three-time Grand Slam winner (two Wimbledons and one US Open) got off to a bad start, dominating exchanges with his 106th-placed opponent in the ATP, before continuing and raising his level of play.
“Reaching that number of 700 wins is a very, very big achievement,” Murray said.
“It was not easy to get there,” he added, recalling that he had reached the limit of 600 wins in 2016 before injuries slowed his progress: “Five and a half years to win the next hundred took a long time.”
“I’m watching these things now,” he said of his career statistics. “It motivates me and encourages me to try to go higher and win more races. When you look at the players who have done it, they are definitely the best players of the last 30 or 40 years. It’s good to be among them. “
This 700th victory places him, among the active players, in the same club as the three world tennis giants, but far from all the same: Roger Federer (1,251), Rafael Nadal (1,043) and Novak Djokovic (991).
At Indian Wells, where he has an invitation, Murray is looking for a first title from 2019.
