Andy Murray started his bid to retain the title at Queen’s Club with a 7-6 (10/8), 6-3 victory over Spain’s Ivan Navarro in the second round on Tuesday.
Murray, playing his opening match after being given a first-round bye, is looking for a morale-boosting run at the grasscourt event as he warms up for Wimbledon and he survived a tough work-out to earn a third-round meeting with Mardy Fish or Santiago Giraldo.
The third seed has been stuck in something of a rut since losing the Australian Open final to Roger Federer and his disappointing claycourt season ended with a tame fourth-round exit at the French Open against Tomas Berdych.
PHOTO: AFP
Back in the familiar surroundings of west London, initially there was little evidence of any improvement in Murray’s form.
Navarro, serving and volleying impressively, kept the Scot on the back foot for much of the first set.
It took until the tie-break for Murray to spark into life as he fought off two Navarro set points, before unleashing a brilliant backhand cross-court winner, from what looked an impossible angle, to take the set himself.
Energized by that shot, the world number four broke early in the second set and did enough to keep the determined Navarro at bay.
He finally killed off the Spaniard with three superb returns to break and close out the match in style.
Murray, who last year became the first Briton to win Queen’s since 1938, said: “It was a tough first match. He served very well in the first set and I didn’t return very well.”
“The second set was better and by the end of the match I was starting to get some good returns in. I thought I moved pretty well once I got into the rallies,” Murray said.
Fourth seed Andy Roddick, another top player who struggled on the clay at Roland Garros before being knocked out in the third round by Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili, also enjoyed being back on the grass.
The American is a four-time winner at Queen’s and the world No. 7 looked eager to reclaim the title he last won in 2007 as he dismissed Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-1 in just 50 minutes.
Germany’s Rainer Schuttler knocked out Gael Monfils in the second round with a surprise 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 win over the French sixth seed.
Monfils admitted he had struggled with a knee problem for much of the match, with the slick grass doing nothing to ease his discomfort.
Monfils’ compatriot Richard Gasquet fared better as the 11th seed defeated the US’ Rajeev Ram 6-3, 7-5.
In the remaining first-round matches, France’s Nicolas Mahut, a runner-up at Queen’s in 2007, cruised past Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.
Grigor Dimitrov beat British wildcard Alex Bogdanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a rain-interrupted clash and Colombian 13th seed Giraldo defeated Evgeny Korolev 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3. Belgium’s Xavier Malisse beat Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 7-6 (7/3). The US’ Fish was too strong for Somdev Devvarman of India, winning 6-1, 6-4.
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