Murray through but Wawrinka out at Queen’s

Andy Murray’s bid for a record-breaking fifth Aegon Championships title began with a straight sets win over Nicolas Mahut.

But it was far from simple for the British number one, who had to go through two tiebreaks – saving three set points in the second set – to emerge triumphant over the 34-year-old Frenchman.

Murray will next face fellow Briton Aljaz Bedene after his three-set win over Benoit Paire.

Mahut – now ranked 51 in the world – is a wily competitor on grass and took the first set the distance at Queen’s Club in west London.

In a nip-and-tuck tiebreak that kept a packed centre court crowd enthralled, Murray squandered two set points and Mahut one – before the Scot pinched it 10-8.

Early in the second set, Murray seemed agitated by the damp surface after another day punctuated by rain delays, and Mahut took advantage of the lapse in concentration to lead 5-2.

Murray broke back and levelled at 5-5 but he still required three big serves to prevent Mahut from taking the set.

In the end, it went to another breaker – which Murray won comfortably, 7-1, to book his place in the second round.

And his path to another triumph at Queen’s had earlier been smoothed by the defeat of second seed Stan Wawrinka.

The two-time Grand Slam champion and world number five was beaten in straight sets, 6-2 7-6, by Fernando Verdasco after several stoppages for rain.

He follows fourth seed Richard Gasquet out of the tournament, after the Frenchman was beaten on Monday.

There was better luck for fifth seed and 2012 Queen’s champion Marin Cilic, who hit back after dropping the first set to Feliciano Lopez, and sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who saw off Sam Querrey.

There were also wins for Bernard Tomic, Donald Young and Adrian Mannarino, although Britain’s James Ward was beaten by Gilles Muller.

Matches involving Britain’s Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans, scheduled as the last on their respective courts, were both called off, while third seed Milos Raonic and Australian Nick Kyrgios will resume their match at one set all after darkness forced them from centre court.