Andy Murray defeated on return to action at Queen's Club
BySportsbeat
Published 19/06/2018 at 21:11 GMT
Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray's long-awaited comeback after almost a year out with a hip injury ended in defeat to Nick Kyrgios at Queen's Club.
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The three-time major winner, who had not played a competitive match since last year's Wimbledon, was beaten 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 by the Australian world number 21.
Despite suffering his first defeat to Kyrgios in six meetings, the 31-year-old Scot showed plenty of promising signs in the two hours and 39 minutes he was on court.
Murray demonstrated his renowned resilience as he saved break point in the opening game, before eventually reeling off four successive games to clinch the first set 6-2.
Following an erratic first set from Kyrgios, he began to test the former world number one more in the second set and took his first two service games as the Brit found himself 3-1 down.
But in typical Murray fashion, the five-time Queen's winner fought back to force Kyrgios to serve to stay in the match before the Australian prevailed in the tiebreak to force a deciding set.
There was little to choose between the two players in the third set, although Murray was forced to save break points to level it up at 3-3 and saw off two match points at 4-5.
However, with another tiebreaker looming, Murray found himself facing another match point on his own serve and doubled faulted to hand victory to Kyrgios.
The Australian will now face British number one Kyle Edmund in the next round, after the 23-year-old set up the last-16 clash with victory over American Ryan Harrison.
Showing the sort of form that has taken him into the top 20 in the world, Edmund progressed in straight sets 7-6 6-4 and said he was delighted to be back playing in front of a home crowd.
"It's always great when you play in front of your home crowd," he said. "First of all, thanks to everyone for supporting me, it's great to be back in the UK playing tennis again.
"I didn't get off to the best of starts and maybe there were some pre-match nerves, which is completely normal for the first match on grass in your home country.
"I was very pleased to break back the next game and after that game I found I settled into the match and really got my game on court.
"Although the second set was kind of close I was always knocking on the door of breaking him and I broke him to win the match."
Edmund also welcomed the return of Murray following his long absence from the game. "It was just great to see Andy back on court to be honest," he added.
"Knowing how much he's done in the game and how much he's helped me personally, it's been tough for him to not play, I'm excited to see him back on court."
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