Across four tournaments there were some great matches but none better than the Andy Murray come back clash against Nick Kyrgios at the Fever-Tree Championships held at Queens Club, London.
In his first hit out on the ATP Tour for about a year, Murray began by holding serve, the opening point a clear winner.
Kyrgios played catch up and it wasn’t easy for him after four games.
Indeed his composure evaporated at that point and good mate Andy continued to play the consistent tennis for which he is renowned.
Kyrgios contributed to his own demise, with two double faults in the sixth game to drop serve, then another on set point.
Murray was ahead 6-2, and had shown for a good part his skills of accurate serve, outstanding defence, speed around the court, and of course good shot selection.
Kyrgios has had some matches in the past when he would let a bad start affect his approach for the remainder of the contest.
Not today however. The pair exchanged two breaks of serve to send the second set into a tie break, where Kyrgios let a 3-0 lead slip to 4-4 with Murray to serve. The Australian rallied, winning the final three points and levelling the match at a set apiece.
The decider saw Murray’s movement a llittle less assured, and his service games were threatened each time. Kyrgios was unable to convert any of his break points until Murray served a double fault at 5-6 and 30-40.
2-6 7-6(4) 7-5 A sad way for a terrific match to end, but Murray should take heart from his performance - extending a quality opponent to two hours thirty nine minutes was excellent and as his good friend Kyrgios said, he only needs more matches under his belt.
For Kyrgios, this was an important victory, his first over Murray, and one in which he displayed a composure and maturity under pressure.
Defending champion Feliciano Lopez defeated David Goffin (4) and Tomas Berdych (8) fell to qualifier Julien Benneteau.
Grigor Dimitrov (2) survived in three sets over Damir Dzumhur, while Kyle Edmund (7) defeated Ryan Harrison and will meet Kyrgios in the second round.
Halle:
Two French seeds were eliminated - Lucas Pouille (5) lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas and Richard Gasquet (8), title winner last week, fell to wildcard Florian Mayer.
Benoit Paire flew the French flag in defiance, dismissing American Steve Johnson in straight sets.
Roger Federer (1) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (6) won through.
Birmingham:
Garbine Muguruza (1) destroyed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 59 minutes, surrendering just three games. She will be joined in the second round by wildcard Elina Svitolina (2), defending champion Petra Kvitová (4), Julia Goerges (5) and Daria Kasatkina (6). Kasatkina and Svitolina required three sets to advance.
Elise Mertens (7) exited thanks to qualifier Dalila Jakupovic, ranked 113, and CoCo Vandeweghe (8) lost to Petra Martic.
Mallorca:
Opening round success for Caroline Garcia (1), Anastasija Sevastova (3), and Lucie Safarova (7), but the exit gates for Danielle Collins (6), losing to qualifier Rebecca Peterson.
Good to see Vika Azarenka winning, although it was a struggle against lucky loser in qualifying Stefanie Voegele, the match lasting three sets and two hours twenty minutes.
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