Brtiain's Andy Murray opened up the defence of his Aegon Championship title with a hard-fought 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 second-round win over Spain's Ivan Navarro at Queen's Club on Tuesday (8 June). There were no such problems for American fourth seed Andy Roddick though - the four-time champion demolished Russia's Igor Kunitsyn 6-2 6-1.
It was another showery day at Queen's Club in London on Tuesday, but between the rain delays, defending champion Andy Murray and Andy Roddick were able to clear away the clay from their tennis shoes and begin their build-up to Wimbledon.
Third seed Murray, who last year became the first Briton to win the title at Queen's in 71 years, kicked off his grass-court campaign against Spaniard Ivan Navarro.
Murray, who has yet to win a title in 2010 and went out in the fourth round of the French Open, initially seemed taken aback at the sight of a serve-and-volleying Spaniard. But once he had got over that shock he found his groove to take the opening set 7-6 on the tie-break.
Murray would also have expected Navarro, whose stocky build would not have put him out of place on a rugby pitch, to hug the baseline since the world number 108 hails from Alicante.
However, Navarro showed off some considerable grass-court skills as he attacked the net at every opportunity and with a little more experience might have pushed Murray further. But the Scot, who has endured a wretched run since finishing runner-up to Roger Federer at the Australian Open, emerged with a 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 victory and will play Mardy Fish or Santiago Giraldo of Colombia in the third round.
"Yeah, it was good. It was a tough first match. He served very, very well in the first set, and I didn't return particularly well. He's a tricky player. It's not what you expect from a Spaniard, coming forward on every point. But the second set was very good", Says Murray.
Roddick, who like Murray took an early flight out of Paris, barely gave anyone a chance to admire Igor Kunitsyn's game as he blew away his luckless Russian challenger in less than an hour.
The fourth seed was at his ruthless best in a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Igor Kunitsyn. The American fired 12 aces, faced just one break point and tied up victory in only 50 minutes. "Yeah, it felt good. I think I got here before anyone, so I've got in a lot of time on the grass here and I'm feeling good. I feel comfortable" Says Roddick.
Andy Roddick is chasing for his fifth title at Queen's Club after lifting the trophy in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. AP
