TENNIS:Andy Murray won his first match on home soil as a grand slam champion as he fought back from a set down to defeat Tomas Berdych at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals yesterday.

With Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also in his round-robin group at London’s O2 Arena, defeat in his opening match would have left the US Open champion with an uphill task to qualify for the semi-finals.

And it did not look good for Murray when he dropped the opening set but the world number three finally took a break point at the 11th time of asking early in the second and from there he kept Berdych at arm’s length to win 3-6 6-3 6-4.

The opening singles clash of the tournament was a repeat of the US Open semi-final, which Murray won in extremely windy conditions, but he does not have a particularly good record against big-hitting Berdych and was looking to square their head-to-head at 4-4. Coach Ivan Lendl was back in Murray’s box for the first time since the US Open and would have been pleased with the way his charge finished off the game.

The 25-year-old betrayed a few nerves with a double fault on his first chance but on the second Berdych netted a backhand, leaving Murray to roar with delight.