Andy Murray returned to action with victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at
the inaugural Gijon Open in Spain on Tuesday.
The three-time Grand Slam champion missed last week’s Astana Open through illness and made a slow start against his Spanish opponent but found his form to record an excellent 7-5 6-2 win at the ATP 250 event.
Murray, who last played at the Laver Cup in London last month, dropped serve in the opening game and had to save break points in two of his next three service games to stay in touch.
He got his reward for that effort in the eighth game when he got back on serve, and another break in the 12th game earned him the opening set.
Murray maintained his momentum by moving ahead early in the second against Davidovich Fokina, ranked 17 places above the former world No 1 at 31, and finished strongly to set up a second-round clash with either Pedro Cachin of Argentina or Russian qualifier Alexey Vatutin.