Andy Murray, reunited with his wedding ring, played some of his best tennis as he beat Adrian Mannarino in their first-round match at Indian Wells.
The former world No 1 had left his ring tied to shoes which he put out to dry under his car overnight as he was preparing for the tournament in Indian Wells earlier this week. They were not there the following morning but were subsequently recovered and Murray celebrated the ring’s return by beating France’s Mannarino 6-3, 6-2 in the first round in the Californian desert.
Murray explained: “So basically the day after we realised they were, let’s say, misplaced or someone had moved them, I went and I spoke to the lost and found a couple of times at the hotel that day. They said they’d found nothing. I spoke to security. They said they found nothing. I was like: ‘Well, they’re gone.’ I was going to file a police report to try to get them back or to increase my chance of getting them back.
“Anyway, I went and spoke to the hotel, explained to them that was what I was going to do. They then decided to take all of my details down, the details of the shoes, ring, took me out to the car park and asked exactly where it was I parked.
“I asked them if they could look at the cameras. About an hour later they turned up. One of the employees at the hotel found them in their lost and found. So, yeah, thankfully managed to get them back, which was good.”
The Scot will face Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in round two.
Kei Nishikori is another player fighting his way back from injury and one of Murray’s old adversaries triumphed in three sets against the Portuguese João Sousa. The Japanese player came from a set down to win 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 and set up a clash with Britain’s Dan Evans. Cameron Norrie will take on Tennys Sandgren after the American beat Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 6-4 6-3.
Sandgren’s compatriot Frances Tiafoe got the better of the unpredictable Frenchman Benoît Paire 6-4, 6-4. Another American, Jenson Brooksby, on the back of an impressive US Open, beat Turkey’s Cem Ilkel 7-6 (5) 6-4.
There were also wins for the former Wimbledon finalist Kevin Anderson, the Australian John Millman and the German Jan-Lennard Struff.
