Having locked up completely in the first set, to the point where he was virtually walking around the court, he gradually began to loosen up until his opponent, Jarkko Nieminen, was the one feeling the pain.
Murray came into this tournament with chronic back trouble, which had forced him to pull out of the Madrid Masters and restricted his movement during the following event in Rome. But his latest attack was far more acute. The problem peaked in the fourth game, when he was unable even to bend in his service action, and could only pat the ball over the net like a pensioner.
"My back went into spasm, basically," Murray said after the match. "It was sore when I got up, sore when I practiced. I couldn't put any weight on my left leg, it's something that happens sometimes."
Asked whether he had considered pulling out of the tournament, he replied: "The guys were telling me to stop. We thought about it, when we were warming up we considered it. But at the end of the second set he was obviously getting a bit nervous. I thought, 'Let's give it a go, let's chase a few more balls'."
When the trainer came on the court, with the score at 5-0 to Nieminen, it appeared that a retirement was inevitable. But Murray has an enviable record of completing his matches on the ATP Tour. He has only once pulled out of a match, when he snapped a wrist tendon against Filippo Volandri in Hamburg. He carried on stubbornly, limping around the court and aiming for clean winners in an attempt to shorten the points. And then, miraculously, his condition started to improve.
Within moments of the opening match on Court Philippe Chatrier, Murray was two games down and clutching his back in agony. Ivan Lendl looked down from the stands, chin on palm, convinced his man was about to quit. He did not. Three courtside treatments got him through the set that Nieminen took 6-1 but few gave Murray a prayer of carrying on.
He was forced to power down his serve to 114kph (70mph) until the muscles settled but rarely got above 170kph (105mph) in the second set. A grunt and a grimace accompanied every twist of his service action as the ball dollied over the net.
Within an hour Murray, loosened but still not able to crank up his serve into a threatening weapon, was stroking the ball to all parts as Nieminen disintegrated in the face of Murray's extraordinary will.
He might not have pulled off this escape without Nieminen's spectacular collapse – he hit 51 unforced errors and five double faults – but at the end his own tennis was unrecognisable from the hobbling effort of the first set.
His dilemma is the nature of his injury. It lurks in his lower back, where every swivel in the service action applies enormous pressure. It has been with him since before the Australian Open, perhaps longer.
He bridled earlier this week when it was suggested he was disguising the seriousness of the injury, declaring he would not play in this match unless he was fully fit. He is still struggling and his pledge to rest completely when the season is over suggests he is prepared to play through the pain. If he does that he risks collapse at any moment in any match.
As for Nieminen, he will have felt even worse at the end than Murray did at the start, having caved in mentally when a routine win over a wounded and highly rated foe was his for the taking.
"He got a bit nervous in the second set," Murray said of his bewildered opponent. "It's not easy playing someone that's struggling. It was tough for him.
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