Andy Murray wins on comeback at Queen’s Club

Andy Murray’s comeback following a second hip operation began with an excellent victory alongside partner Feliciano Lopez in the Fever-Tree Championships in front of an excited Queen’s Club crowd.

The three-time Grand Slam singles champion, who feared the Australian Open in January might prove his last tournament, won 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 against top-seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Murray was playing his first competitive match since a first-round defeat against Roberto Bautista Agut in Melbourne, before he underwent a hip resurfacing operation in a bid to salvage his career.

The former world No 1 described the surgery, which has left him pain-free, as “life-changing” earlier this week and demonstrated his natural shot-making ability alongside his Spanish partner in an entertaining encounter.

“It was brilliant, I enjoyed it a lot,” Murray told the BBC in his post-match interview. “I was a bit slow at the beginning but got better as the match went along.

“I’m really fortunate to be playing tennis again. I absolutely love playing on this court, it’s a brilliant place to play.

“I felt quite relaxed in the build-up, but we said as we were walking on to the court that we were starting to feel a bit nervous. But you need those butterflies.”

Murray, who also made a comeback in the singles at Queen’s last year, moved well throughout the early-evening match which concluded a busy schedule and showed no sign of the discomfort which has impacted his career over the past two years.

The match was dominated by serve in the early stages before Murray and Lopez gained the initiative after winning an enthralling first-set tiebreak.

There were five successive points that went against serve before Murray brought up a set point with a deft drop volley winner and he then hit a forehand, which clipped the net tape, for a winner past Cabal to bring about loud cheers from an energetic crowd.

Murray and Lopez, who won the singles title at Queen’s in 2017, then took control of the second set by breaking the Colombian pairing in the sixth game, before they held firm to close out victory on their first match point.

They will next play against either Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur or British pair Dan Evans and Ken Skupski in the second round.

(c) Sky News 2019: Andy Murray wins on comeback at Queen’s Club