The road back from back surgery last fall has tested Andy Murray’s fortitude more than some might have hoped.  Murray has not reached a final since winning Wimbledon last summer, a drought that has included losses this year to Florian Mayer, Grigor Dimitrov, and Marin Cilic.  The Scot needed all of his resilience to survive an unexpected upset bid by world No. 77 Jiri Vesely at the BNP Paribas Open.  After losing a marathon first set, Murray trailed in both the second and third sets.  Still, the two-time major champion did just enough late in each set to keep his Indian Wells campaign alive. 

Curiously, Murray has not compiled as impressive a history at this event as a player of his quality would expect.  Since finishing runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2009, he has fallen by the quarterfinals at each of his last five Indian Wells appearances.  This event is the only Masters 1000 outdoor hard-court tournament that the Scot has not won.  (In fact, he has won two or more titles at each of the others.)

Murray cannot have brought high expectations to his 2014 campaign in the California desert, considering his recent struggles.  He dropped the first set of his tournament to dangerous shot-maker Lukas Rosol before recovering.  Murray started his match against Vesely on Monday in more promising fashion, however, notching two quick service breaks and ultimately serving for the first set at 5-4.  Unable to convert that opportunity, he allowed Vesely back into an epic opening set that the underdog eventually claimed in a tiebreak.

Murray struggled on serve throughout this match, yielding ugly double faults while rarely taking command with his first serve. This trend extended from his unimpressive week in Acapulco just before Indian Wells.  After losing the first-set tiebreak, the two-time major champion dropped serve immediately to open the second set.  Midway through the set, the two men would trade three straight breaks to draw level at 4-4.  Murray finally collected himself to hold serve in the ninth game, putting the pressure on Vesely to stay in the set. 

If Murray’s losses this year had raised a few eyebrows, Vesely’s losses were much less creditable.  The Czech journeyman had fallen to Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Jan-Lennard Struff, and Peter Gojowczyk, among others.  Vesely had defeated two higher-ranked opponents here in Igor Sijsling and Pablo Andujar, but he had not ridden a long wave of momentum that could bolster him under pressure against Murray.  The Scot exploited his opponent’s nerves in racing to triple set point at 4-5.  Although Vesely saved Murray’s first two chances, the third time proved the charm when a deft drop shot forced an errant lob. 

Forced into his third consecutive three-set battle, Vesely needed to regroup after squandering two leads in the second set.  What had looked like a potential straight-sets win had become an uphill battle once more, and a challenging test for the underdog’s confidence.  Vesely passed it with flying colors, coming out on top after a string of three straight breaks that started the final set.

Just as he did in the second set, the Czech held the world No. 6 at his mercy.  Vesely ran his lead to 4-3, 30-0—six points from the most significant victory of his career.  But a tentative passage of play, including a double fault at 30-30 and another on break point, saw the lead disappear.  Once again, Murray sensed a chance to escape a grueling epic in which he had produced well below his best tennis.  When he battled through a shaky deuce game on his serve, Vesely again needed to hold to stay in the match.

The underdog jumped out to an early lead on serve, as he had in the previous game, only to surrender it with routine errors that revealed the tension.  In a mirror image of the second set, Murray earned the decisive break in the 10th game.  Converting his third match point, the world No. 6 survived in a grueling two hours and 48 minutes.

Up next for Murray likely is a battle with Canadian tower of power Milos Raonic, who faces Alejandro Falla later on Monday.  Since Raonic struck 33 aces in his first match, Murray will need to raise his own level on serve to weather that potential clash and advance to a blockbuster quarterfinal against Rafael Nadal.  For now, though, the reiging Wimbledon champion will feel grateful to have survived a rollercoaster than hung in the balance until the final point.