• China Open

Murray battles through in Beijing

Andy Murray came from a set down to beat Jerzy Janowicz © Getty Images

Enlarge

Andy Murray fought back from a set down against Jerzy Janowicz to move into the second round of the China Open, while Rafael Nadal also won on his return from injury.

Having won his first title in 15 months at the Shenzhen Open on Saturday, Murray dug deep to secure a 6-7(9) 6-4 6-2 victory after two and a half hours in Beijing.

Rafael Nadal beat Richard Gasquet in his first singles match in three months following a wrist injury © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Wozniacki crashes out in Beijing
  
• News: Sharapova and Serena ease into third round
  
• Features: London calling for Andy Murray
  
• News: Tears of joy for Murray after Shenzhen Open triumph
  

Murray's exertions last week looked like they might have caught up with him as he lost his opening three service games to slip 5-1 down in the opening set.

However, he rallied by reeling off five straight games to move ahead for the first time in the match, before Janowicz held to take the set to a tie-break.

Murray raced into a 3-0 lead but was soon left screaming in frustration as Janowicz edged 5-4 ahead. Both failed to take two set points each before Janowicz finally found a way through, firing a winner down the line with Murray smashing his racquet against the court.

Murray failed to take a break point at 4-4 in the second set before a wild overhead at the net from Janowicz gave him another in the same game. This time he took it, after a second error at the net from Janowicz, and held to even the match at one set all.

The Scot spurned two break points for a 4-1 lead in the third but broke at the next time of asking before closing out the match.

"I would have rather lost the [first] set 6-1 than putting all of that work in and not getting a reward for it," said Murray. "But I was really happy with the way I managed to fight through in the end."

Earlier on Tuesday, Nadal - playing his first singles match since his last-16 defeat to Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon in July - beat Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-0 to extend his record over the Frenchman to 13-0.

The world No.2 missed the US Open, as well as warm-up events in Cincinnati and Toronto, with a wrist injury.

Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic pushed his all-time record at the China Open to 20-0 after making quick work of Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Tuesday.

Top seed Djokovic, seeking his fifth title in Beijing, eased to a 6-2 6-1 victory in his first outing since losing to Kei Nishikori in the US Open semi-finals.

Djokovic has won the tournament every time he's entered in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd