Murray suffers narrow defeat to Kyrgios on his return to action
Encouraging performance from former world No 1 at Queen’s Club
Former world No 1 Andy Murray made a long-awaited return to competitive tennis yesterday – but his comeback ended in defeat to Australian Nick Kyrgios.
Murray, who has been sidelined with a hip injury for the past 11 months, delighted the fans at Queen’s Club in London where he finally returned to action, but after a bright start, the three-time grand slam champion fell to a 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 loss to world No 21 Kyrgios.
Given his lengthy time away, there were few expectations on Murray heading in to this first -round tie, but the 31-year-old Scot took control by breaking twice in the opening set.
Kyrgios appeared disengaged for much of the early part of the match, but switched on in time to take the second set tie-break.
From that point, it was the 23-year-old Australian who looked the more likely to win the match, but Murray dug in throughout the decider before eventually succumbing to the third match point.
“It was great to see him back and see him healthy,” said Kyrgios, who beat Murray for the first time at the sixth attempt.
Earlier, Novak Djokovic made a strong start to his Wimbledon preparations with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Australian qualifier John Millman.
Djokovic is a ranked No 22 in the world after a surprise French Open quarter-final defeat to Italian Marco Cecchinato extended his tough run in 2018.
The 31-year-old Serb, hampered by an elbow injury last year, has failed to reach the semi-finals in any of his last five grand slam appearances.
With Wimbledon starting on July 2, Djokovic was desperate to improve his 14-8 record in 2018, and, in his first appearance at Queen’s since 2010, he was quickly in the groove as he romped to a first round win in 65 minutes.
Breaks in the fifth and seventh games sealed a one-sided first set.
Barely tested by the world No 63, Djokovic broke twice in the first five games of the second set to see off Millman with ease.
A sterner test lies in wait for Djokovic in the second round against 2017 ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov.
“Right now it’s all about tennis, all about improving, and getting on a high level,” said Djokovic.
“So a match against Dimitrov is a very good challenge for both of us, especially me at this time, with not too many matches under my belt in general this year or the past 12 months.”
World No 5 Dimitrov beat Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in his opening match as the Bulgarian bids to win Queen’s for the second time.
The Bulgarian said: “You have to go through matches like this in order for you to win a tournament.
“Whether it’s early rounds or late in the tournament, you still have to beat those kind of guys. [Novak] played a very good match. I watched a little bit. I’m here to play, I’m here to compete and try to find a better game. Simple as that.”
In other first round action, former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic was leading 6-1, 3-1 when Indian qualifier Yuki Bhambri was forced to retire due to a knee injury. Raonic was due to face reigning Queen’s champion Feliciano Lopez – who defeated Belgium’s David Goffin 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 – but the Canadian also withdrew from the tournament with a shoulder injury.
South African third seed Kevin Anderson suffered a surprise 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 defeat by Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, while french qualifier Julien Benneteau beat former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Given his lengthy time away, there were few expectations on Murray but the Scot took control of the opening set