Andy Murray begins year with battling win over Feliciano Lopez in Abu Dhabi

Andy Murray started the year with a gruelling win over Feliciano Lopez in his opening match at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.

The Scot battled for two-and-a-half hours in a 7-6 5-7 6-4 victory over the Spaniard and will next meet the returning Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals in Abu Dhabi.

Murray made a solid start, opening up a 3-1 lead with a cross-court backhand return, but Lopez broke back to level at 3-3.

The next five games went with serve, but Murray seized command in the tie break and closed it out 7-1 to take the opening set.

Both players held their serve during a closely-contested second set, with Lopez finally securing a break in the 12th game for a 7-5 triumph.

This setback provoked a response from Murray, who snatched a break in the opening game of the decider, but the stubborn Lopez broke back and then held serve for a 2-1 lead.

Facing an early exit, the British No 1 dug deep to claim a 5-4 lead, with Lopez spurning two break points, and held on for his maiden win in 2015.

Good preparation

Murray told mudabalawtc.com: "I've played at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship a number of times now and I've always found it to be very good preparation. You always get a very good crowd.

"It's a great way to start the year to try and play some matches against the best players in the world and it gets you very sharp for the beginning of the year."

In Saturday's second game, Stan Wawrinka saw off another Spaniard in Nicolas Almagro with a 6-3 6-2 victory in just over an hour.

Wawrinka put on a dominant display to clinch the first set before Almagro, who replaced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the tournament as the Frenchman nurses an arm injury, came out of the blocks flying - winning the first game of the second without dropping a point.

But his Swiss opponent got the better of him and turned the set around as he raced to victory to set up a last-four clash with world No 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic.