Andy Murray looked a little rusty but was still a class above Igor Kunitsyn during his straight sets win in the Dubai Tennis Championships.
British number one wins first game back after Australian Open
Andy Murray looked a little rusty but was still a class above Igor Kunitsyn during his straight sets win in the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Murray stepped out on court for the first time since his Australian Open final defeat by Roger Federer, and he looked rusty at times but never needed to be at his best to see-off an outclassed Russian.
Third-seeded Murray took an hour and 41 minutes to see off the world ranked number 90, coming through 6-2 6-3 and largely untroubled on his return from a break of almost a month.
Although Murray fired down 13 aces during the match his first serve was not up to scratch and he will hope to improve on a rusty return to action in Dubai.
Murray's fitness was tested in just the second game of the match, when Kunitsyn saved eight break points in a marathon of a game before the British number one eventually took it at the ninth attempt.
Rallies
"My ankle was sore at the start of the match and I was really out of breath early on. I have not practised that much, or trained that much and there were a lot of long rallies," said Murray.
Of the second game, which lasted 24 minutes, Murray added: "You don't think that at 1-0 it could make a huge difference to the match, but I think it did.
"I've never played a game like that before."
Kunitsyn got on the board to make it 3-1 but Murray broke again at 5-2, bringing up set point with a booming forehand before his opponent went long, to take the opening set.
Murray found a spirited Kunitsyn had emerged for the second set, and the Scot was broken in the very first game, but that just forced him to up his game slightly to break right back.
A second break put him 4-2 ahead and it was plain sailing from then on as the world number four closed out the set with ease to set-up a second round meeting with either Andreas Seppi or Janko Tipsarevic.
Defending champion and second seed Novak Djokovic also moved into the next round after he beat Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-4, while eighth seed Gilles Simon was beaten by Marcos Baghdatis.
