Playing at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open for the first time since 2006, Andy Murray carried his strong grass-court form into Newport with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Sam Querrey on Tuesday.

“It’s obviously amazing to be back here and playing on this court again after 16 years,” Murray said in his on-court interview. “A lot has happened in that time: four kids, married and all that stuff. But I’m happy to be back.” 

After falling to another big-serving American in John Isner in the Wimbledon second round, the 35-year-old  beat Querrey on his opponent’s home turf to return to winning ways. The sixth-seeded Briton improved to 6-2 on the grass this season, including a run to the Stuttgart semi-finals last month, when he lost to eventual champion Matteo Berrettini.

Murray was a perfect six-for-six on his break chances in the match as he dragged Querrey into rallies on return throughout the 54-minute contest. The Briton dropped serve in the opening game of the match but was firmly in control beyond that, coping with the blustery conditions far better than his opponent. 

“It was so breezy and really difficult… but we’re doing the best we can given the conditions,” added Murray, who said he prioritised a high first-serve percentage and hit to big targets to avoid wind-whipped errors. The Briton made 76 per cent of his first serves in the match compared to Querrey’s 39 per cent. 

“Any match that I get to play now I try to make the most of it,” he said. “I’ve obviously had a lot of issues with injuries the last four or five years. You never know how close you are to the end, but I’m aware I’m getting towards the end of my career so I make the most of every match and every tournament I get to play now.”

With the victory, Murray moves into joint-seventh place in Open Era grass-court win percentage according to Infosys ATP Stats, with a 116-25 record on the surface, an identical mark to Boris Becker.

Open Era Grass-Court Win Pct. Leaders (min. 100 matches)

Murray advances to face Max Purcell in the second round. The Australian backed up his Wimbledon doubles triumph alongside countryman Matthew Ebden with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory against Adrian Mannarino earlier on Tuesday.

Also advancing at the ATP 250 in Newport were fifth seed Benjamin Bonzi, seventh seed Jiri Vesely and eighth seed James Duckworth. Bonzi defeated American William Blumberg 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Vesely downed Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2 and Duckworth edged Liam Broady 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

Tim van Rijthoven, who claimed his maiden tour-level title on the grass of ‘s-Hertogenbosch last month and reached the Wimbledon fourth round, could continue his strong run in Newport. American Mitchell Krueger earned a 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3 victory to eliminate the in-form Dutchman.

Andres Molteni and Hugo Nys earned victory on their team debut Tuesday, overcoming Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round at the Nordea Open in Bastad.

The Argentine-French tandem saved both break points they faced to advance after 74 minutes. They will next play fourth seeds Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez or Lukasz Kubot and Filip Bergevi.

Fabrice Martin and Franko Skugor provided the shock of the day, upsetting top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(3), 6-3. The French-Croatian pair, who were playing together for the first time, won 81 per cent (38/47) of first-serve points to triumph.

In other action, Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa defeated Aslan Karatsev and Philipp Oswald 7-6(3), 7-6(5), while Marc-Andrea Huesler backed up his singles win over Holger Rune by teaming with Pavel Kotov to eliminate Leo Borg and Elias Ymer 6-1, 6-4 in 55 minutes.

It has been a long wait, but Dominic Thiem is a winner on the ATP Tour once again.

The former World No. 3 battled to a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) first-round victory against Emil Ruusuvuori on Tuesday afternoon at the Nordea Open in Bastad. It was the Austrian’s first tour-level win for 14 months, nine of which the 2020 US Open champion spent out of action due to a wrist injury.

“It’s a long time,” said Thiem in his on-court interview. “My last victory was in Rome in 2021, it feels like a different world somehow. Many, many things happened. It was tough, but it was also a very good experience, I think, for life in general. I’m so happy that I got this first victory here today.”

Thiem was under pressure early against the World No. 43 Ruusuvuori in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. The Finn raced to an unassailable 5-1 lead in the opening set, but Thiem raised his level to roar back into contention by reeling off five games in a row in the second set to level proceedings.

Despite some nervous moments in the deciding-set tie-break, Thiem stayed solid to clinch just his second win at any level in 2022 having saved eight from 12 break points against the clean-hitting Finn.

“It was a very difficult match,” said Thiem. “I didn’t have a very good start and then I fought really well, but I had a really tough period with many losses and not many wins, so it was really difficult for me to close out the match. Even though I played pretty good in the second and third sets. I have to control the nerves a little bit better, especially when it gets to the end.”

Thiem’s next opponent on his debut appearance in Bastad will be fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

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Earlier on Tuesday, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina notched an impressive 6-4, 6-2 win against Joao Sousa to reach the second round in Bastad for the first time. The Spaniard, who surged to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final on the clay at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April, next faces a tough assignment against eighth seed Sebastian Baez or 2018 champion Fabio Fognini.

A pair of first-round matches with one-sided opening sets also saw Aslan Karatsev and Federico Coria advance to the second round in Sweden.

Karatsev breezed through the opening set against Lorenzo Sonego, but had to rally from a break down in the third set to complete a 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 win and extend his ATP Head2Head series against the Italian to 3-0. In contrast, Coria endured a nightmare start to his all-Argentine clash with qualifier Federico Delbonis, but the World No. 65 raised his game for a 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 win to book a second-round appointment with Andrey Rublev.

Steve Johnson, the 2018 Infosys Hall of Fame Open champion, made a good start to his pursuit of a second Newport title on Monday.

The American defeated countryman Stefan Kozlov 7-5, 6-3 to reach the second round at the final tour-level grass-court event of the season.

“[My level was] decent when it needed to be decent and average when it needed to be better. I thought I played well at the end of sets, but there was a stretch there in the middle of both sets that I didn’t like the way I was playing and executing,” Johnson said. “But when you’re not doing that and you still get a win, that’s a good sign.”

This was the fourth time this year at all levels that Johnson and Kozlov have clashed. After Kozlov took the first two meetings, Johnson has now claimed two in a row, with both coming on grass.

“Glad to get a win today and try to put the first couple this year behind me,” Johnson said. “He plays a very awkward, tricky style game and he does it well.”

Another American also moved on when Jack Sock clawed past Moldovan Radu Albot 6-1, 7-6(2). Sock is chasing his first tour-level singles title since the 2017 Rolex Paris Masters.

“Definitely a tricky first match against a very solid opponent,” Sock said in his on-court interview. “But happy to get through.”

German Peter Gojowczyk, a 2017 Newport semi-finalist, eliminated Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7-5, 6-4. Gojowczyk entered the match with a 1-9 tour-level record on the season, but is now 6-2 at the Infosys Hall of Fame Open. He will try to improve that record in the second round against four-time champion John Isner, the second seed.

In an all-Australian battle, Jason Kubler ousted Jordan Thompson 6-2, 6-3 to set a clash against top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is making his Newport debut.

Top Seeds Advance In Doubles
Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo, the top seeds in the doubles draw, eased into the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Serbian twins Ivan Sabanov and Matej Sabanov.

Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan and Australian John-Patrick Smith upset second seeds Hans Hach Verdugo and Hunter Reese, while Americans Robert Galloway and Alex Lawson ousted Frenchmen Quentin Halys and Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.