Andy Murray made a winning start to his grass-court season with a straight-sets win over qualifier Yen-Hsun Lu at Queen’s Club.
The Briton won 6-4 7-5 at the Aegon Championships and will play Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in round two.
Murray, the top seed and a three-time champion, fell behind in both sets but came through in one hour and 19 minutes.
“I’ve had good runs here, I love playing here,” Murray told BBC Sport.
“But it’s an extremely strong field this year, stronger I think than any years previously, so I’m going to have to play good tennis if I want to do well this week.”
On a day when Rafael Nadal made a shock early exit, Murray avoided a similar fate despite some edgy moments against Lu.
The 31-year-old from Chinese Taipei is ranked 63rd but made it through qualifying and can point to a Wimbledon quarter-final appearance on his CV, albeit five years ago, and a win over Murray at the Olympics in 2008.
Lu certainly looked at ease on the grass as he broke serve in game five with a running forehand pass, jolting Murray to life.
The Scot, 28, broke straight back and appeared to have the match under control when a Lu error gave him the set.
There were signs of rustiness, however, when Murray let a 40-0 lead slip at the start of the second and Lu consolidated for a 2-0 lead.
With Swede Jonas Bjorkman – on coaching duties this week – watching from courtside, Murray hauled himself level again at 2-2 with a forehand into the corner.
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