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Murray return halted by rain at Queen's

Andy Murray is looking to win for a third time at Queen's © PA Photos

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Andy Murray will have to wait until Thursday to complete his Aegon Championships second round match with Nicolas Mahut after play was abandoned at the Queen's Club due to heavy rain.

Murray led Mahut 6-3 2-2 (15-0) before the players left the court for a third weather intervention, and they will now return on Thursday to finish the match.

The winner faces the prospect of playing twice in a day, with a third round tie against Marinko Matosevic scheduled later in the day.

The world No. 2 skipped the French Open in order to fully recover from a back injury sustained at the Rome Masters four weeks ago, and the Scot looked in good shape before going off as he bids to capture the title at Queen's for a third time in his career.

There were no signs of rustiness from Murray as he demonstrated in the second point when he chased down a Mahut volley at the net to smash the ball straight at his opponent.

The early sharpness on grass was evident, but Murray was unable to convert break points in the first game, and Mahut held to move a game in front.

Play went up on serve after six games as Mahut with his chip-and-charge play was proving tough for Murray to grind down. However, the Scot sealed the break in the seventh game with a flicked cross court forehand, and consolidated the advantage when Mahut hit a wild shot.

Luckily for Murray, the British No. 1 was able to wrap up the opening set before the rain arrived. The second soon fell foul of the weather with both players cutting frustrated figures due to the deteriorating court conditions.

Murray, for one, was not pleased when Mahut slipped on the surface as play became increasingly dangerous.

The players left for a third rain delay before the rain worsened, and the decision was made by Queen's officials to cancel play for the rest of the day; meaning Murray and Mahut will have to resume on Thursday morning.

Britain's Daniel Evans set up a third-round encounter with former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro after the 23-year-old upset world No. 38 Jarkko Nieminen 6-4 6-7(6) 6-4.

Evans was three points from victory when rain halted play, but the British No. 5 was not to be denied a place in the next round as he completed the win against the player ranked 240 places above him.

"He probably won't play as much slice as much as me. I have my own goals tomorrow," Evans said. "I don't think I need to share them with everybody. I'm pretty happy with the way I'm playing. I will just go out there and do what I have to do."

Four-time Queen's champion Lleyton Hewitt turned back the clock with a vintage display to overcome tenth seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-3. The 32-year-old Australian last lifted the famous trophy in 2006, and is confident for the rest of the event.

"[Today's victory] is going to help me immensely," Hewitt said. "I feel like in practice, I have been hitting the ball great. It was just a matter of doing it on the match court. My first match here [three sets against Michael Russell] wasn't pretty, but I fought hard and got through it. That's what I needed to do. Then today it was a classy performance."

Former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych will be looking to put his disappointing first round loss at the French Open behind him, and the Czech clinched a 6-1 6-4 victory over Thiemo de Bakker.

Champion Marin Cilic also advanced to the third round thanks to a 6-3 6-4 win over fellow Croatian Ivan Dodig, while seventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov got the better of Santiago Giraldo 6-3 4-6 6-4.

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