Murray claimed the 700th ATP match win of his career.
“Reaching that number is a really, really good achievement,” said Murray, who is one of just four active players to hit the milestone after Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
“It has not been easy getting there,” he added, noting that he had reached 600 match wins in 2016 before his victory rate was slowed in large part by injury.
In the early going, it didn’t look like a landmark day for Murray, who dropped the first set in just 28 minutes.
Unable to convert two early break points, Murray would eventually be broken at love four times before bearing down in the third set to seal the win.
It was another smidgen of revenge against the 106th-ranked Japanese player, who stunned Murray in the second round of the Australian Open before Murray turned the tables in the first round at Doha.
