Kyrgios downs 'legend' Murray as Dimitrov and Djokovic progress

Queen's Club welcomed back home favourite Andy Murray, but he could not join Grigor Dimitrov and Novak Djokovic in the second round.

Published : Jun 20, 2018 02:22 IST

Nick Kyrgios was delighted to see "legend" Andy Murray back on the court at Queen's Club, while Grigor Dimitrov and Novak Djokovic joined the Australian in the second round.

World number 21 Kyrgios was the opponent for Murray's comeback match as the three-time grand slam champion ended a lay-off lasting almost a year at the Fever-Tree Championships on Tuesday.

And although Kyrgios emerged a 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 winner, Murray impressed throughout, ensuring a positive workout for both players ahead of Wimbledon.

"[Murray's fitness] is the most important thing," Kyrgios said on court. "It was good to finally get a [first] win over him but I don't really take it as a win in this one.

"I was expecting him to come out and see the ball well. He's a legend of the sport; I don't think he needs much time out on the match courts to feel his rhythm.

"From the get-go he came out pretty well and I wasn't expecting anything less, to be honest."

Kyrgios will now face Kyle Edmund, another home hopeful, in the second round after the British number one got the better of Ryan Harrison 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Dimitrov and Djokovic also made it through to set up a tantalising meeting, seeing off Damir Dzumhur and John Millman respectively, with both matches including incidents that entertained the crowd.

So desperate were Dzumhur's attempts to halt a 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 defeat that he ended up sliding under the net to reach one drop shot, before sharing a smile with Dimitrov.

In the following match on Centre Court, a nearby burglar alarm brought proceedings to a standstill for a couple of minutes as Millman prepared to serve, Djokovic - on his way to a 6-2 6-1 success - left looking somewhat bemused.

There was less humour in third seed Kevin Anderson's day, however, as he was beaten 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 7-6 (7-3) by Leonardo Mayer.

Defending champion Feliciano Lopez dumped out another seed, David Goffin, while Tomas Berdych went down to qualifier Julien Benneteau.

Wildcard Dan Evans, making his return following a ban for cocaine use, lost to Adrian Mannarino, but Milos Raonic and Jeremy Chardy eased through.

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