Murray advances at Queen’s Club

London: Andy Murray made a successful start to his reunion with coach Ivan Lendl as the defending champion battled to a 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/1) victory over Nicolas Mahut at Queen’s Club yesterday.

Murray is bidding for a record fifth title at the Wimbledon warm-up event and the world number two ignored the slippery conditions on a rainy day in west London to advance to the second round in one hour and 50 minutes.

He will play Britain’s Aljaz Bedene or France’s Benoit Paire for a place in the quarter-finals.

Earlier, Stan Wawrinka suffered more misery on grass despite the addition of new coach Richard Krajicek as the Swiss second seed crashed to a 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) first round defeat against Fernando Verdasco.

Murray enjoyed a golden two-year period with Lendl that brought him the Wimbledon and US Open titles and an Olympic gold medal before they parted in 2014 due to the Czech’s refusal to increase the amount of time they worked together. The 29-year-old had hankered after a reunion ever since and, although there is plenty of room for improvement, he was pleased with the way he subdued the dangerous Mahut in the first match of the second Lendl era.

“It was tough. Nico is a very accomplished grass-court player,” Murray said.

“Ivan doesn’t give any signs during the match. He has a pretty straight face. But it is great to have him back and, working with Jamie Delgado, I think it is a pretty strong team.

Mahut had won just one of his previous five meetings with Murray, but the French world number 51 had won the grass-court event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch on Monday. (AFP)