Andy Murray beats Nicolas Mahut first round at Queen’s Club

Winning this week would mean a lot to Murray – he is hoping to become the first man to win five Queen’s Club titles – but Mahut was always going to be a hard first- round foe.

He is through to the second round of the Aegon Championships, where he will meet British No 2, Aljaz Bedene.

“I think with the base that I have after the last few months and the confidence I’ve gained from the way that I played on the clay, I’m very happy with my team”.

Treacherous conditions aside, Murray showed glimpses of why he still considers grass his most favoured surface, chipping and charging into the net, and unleashing a number of brilliant passing shots Mahut could only watch sail past. There were times when he seemed unhappy with the surface, but there was no sign of the scowling and shouting in the general direction of his entourage that has so often been a feature of his matches in the past. Old Stoneface, wearing his trademark sunglasses, looked as if he had hardly been away. Working with Jamie Delgado [his full-time coach] has gone extremely well.

“Ivan was the one guy that I’d spoken to Matt (Gentry, his agent) about a few weeks ago”, Murray said.

“It was a good win”, Murray said. But the world number 2 served well under pressure – ending the encounter with a first serve percentage of 71% and 15 aces.

An early exchange of breaks forced a tie-break in the first and Mahut’s best opportunity came at 8-7 on Murray’s second serve, but he crashed his return into the net.

The Scot complained to the umpire about the conditions underfoot, and Mahut would later slip over, but Murray fought back to 5-5 and saved three more set points before dominating the second tie-break.

After the match, Murray reflected on the personality of his new coach, but didn’t say anything which wasn’t already known. After that the tiebreak was surprisingly one-sided, Murray claiming it 7-1 to his evident relief. Nicolas is a very accomplished grass-court player.

The 56 year-old Czech began the day getting in an early warm up session of unusual length and discernible intensity before the first of several rain delays in the day drove everyone inside. “It was a bit slippery”. Wawrinka, who defeated Verdasco at Wimbledon in straight-sets previous year, drops to 2-3 against the Spaniard lifetime.

Britain’s James Ward went out of the tournament when he was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Gilles Muller.

In other action at Queen’s Club, 5th-seeded and 2012 champion Marin Cilic defeated Feliciano Lopez, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut defeated American Sam Querrey, 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 7-6(1).

Sharapova’s lawyers have pressed for a swift hearing at the Court of Arbitration for sport to appeal her two-year ban for taking Meldonium.