ANDY Murray has become only the fifth men’s tennis player in the open era to record 500 hard court wins.

The Scottish ace recorded his 500th victory after beating Denis Shapovalov at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.

Murray joins champions Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer in the exclusive club.

His first win on a hard court came 19 years ago, against the USA’s Jesse Witten in a tournament in Indianapolis.

In 2012, Murray won the US Open, which is one of two Grand Slams played on hard courts.

Asked about his momentous achievement on the court in Dubai, Murray said it was “not bad”.

He went on: “Obviously, hard courts have been a great surface for me over the years. 500 is a lot of matches so I’m very proud of that.

“The list that you’ve given [including Nadal, Agassi, Djokovic, and Federer] there’s not many players that have done that so, great, great to get to 500 before I’m done.”

His mother Judy Murray shared the achievement on social media, writing: “Typical Scottish understatedness.

"Fifth on the all-time list behind Agassi, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. ‘Not too bad’ [smiley emoji].”

Murray’s 500th hard court win comes after he has been forced to fend off retirement talk following a string of first-round defeats.

The three-time grand-slam champion looked set for another in Dubai when Shapovalov, a former top-10 player, claimed the opening set.

Murray had struggled to breach the serve of his 24-year-old opponent, but produced a trademark gutsy display to edge a second-set tie-breaker and kept his composure to break twice in the decider to secure a much-needed win after two hours and 33 minutes.

After the match Murray appeared to reference his future in the game. He said: "I still love competing and still love the game but it gets harder and harder to compete with the young guys the older you get, to keep your body fit and fresh. It's not easy.

"I probably don't have too long left but I'll do as best as I can these last few months."