• AEGON Championship

Murray comes through stiff examination at Queen's

Andy Murray was given a good examination upon his return to the grass courts at Queen's, eventually taking a surprisingly close encounter against Spain's Ivan Navarro 7-6(8) 6-3.

Murray is one of the names deemed capable of winning the next Grand Slam at Wimbledon, but he will not have expected such a tough test of his credentials against the world No. 108. Returning to Queen's as the defending champion, Murray had to rescue two set points before easing to victory.

Navarro's serve-and-volley approach was refreshing in its simplicity, and it forced Murray onto the back foot all the way to the first-set tiebreaker. The Spaniard, who has never won an ATP title, then had set points on the Murray serve at 6-5 and 8-7, but the Briton saved both to clinch the set in 47 minutes.

Murray's focus was again leaving something to be desired, but his touch was decent, his slices worked more times than not, and passing shots found their marks when he needed them most. Capitalising on the tiebreak triumph, the world No. 4 quickly broke in the first game of the second set, winning eight out of nine points for a 2-0 advantage.

Navarro continued to threaten, but the trademark topspin lobs were returning to the Murray game and he picked up a second break to close out the match in an hour and 25 minutes.

Last year's beaten Wimbledon finalist, Andy Roddick, looks set for another significant grass-court campaign after he brushed aside the challenge of Igor Kunitsyn 6-2 6-1. The American fired down 12 aces in a brutal display of serving, and he looks on course for another lengthy Wimbledon campaign.

Roddick lost an epic final to Roger Federer last summer, the third time he had fallen at the final hurdle at the All England Club. With only the one Grand Slam triumph at the US Open to his name, Roddick admitted this week that a Wimbledon triumph would mean more than any other, and his preparations began perfectly as he wrapped up victory inside 51 minutes.

Grigor Dimitrov defied his ranking of 360 to beat Alex Bogdanovic © Getty Images

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No. 6 seed Gael Monfils tumbled out of the AEGON Championship, losing 6-3 6-7(4) 6-2 to Rainer Schuettler.

The German raced into a 3-0 lead as Monfils looked well off the pace in the first set. The Frenchman called the trainer out on a couple of occasions and received lengthy treatment on his left knee. His movement looked restricted as Schuettler raced through the first set and the German piled on the woe by claiming an early break. With his back against the wall, Monfils found some freedom and form and started to hit consistent winners.

Schuettler served for the match at 5-4, but as is so often the case his arm tightened and a pulled forehand enabled Monfils to break back and he duly took the set into a tie-break. The players were off court for over an hour prior to the breaker on account of a downpour and it seemed to suit Monfils who came out with a spring in his step, hitting winners on both wings, as he forced a final set.

Just when it appeared he had the upper hand, Monfils drifted back to the poor form of the first set. Schuettler secured an early break and although the Frenchman fended off the double-break chance in the sixth game, he could not prevent his opponent from wrapping up victory and a place in the third round.

Alex Bogdanovic was not handed a wildcard for Wimbledon and his bad week continued on Tuesday as the Brit was sent crashing out at Queen's by Grigor Dimitrov.

The match was completed on Tuesday after rain forced the players off at a set-all on Monday evening. Bogdanovic made a poor start, as a double fault handed his opponent a break. Dimitrov tightened up markedly with the winning post in sight and Bogdanovic worked a break point when Dimitrov was serving for the match, but he missed a forehand by a whisker and then threw a backhand wide to hand his stuttering rival a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory.

Also through on Tuesday were Ricard Gasquet, Nicolas Mahut, Xavier Malisse, Bernard Tomic, Dustin Brown, Marc Gicquel and Marcel Granollers.

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