Top-ranked Andy Murray returned from an elbow injury to beat Gilles Muller of luxembourg 7-5, 7-5 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
The right elbow injury prompted Murray to withdraw from last month's Miami Open and he also missed Britain's recent quarterfinal loss to France in the Davis Cup.
Murray looked a bit sluggish early on, dropping serve in the opening game. He saved two set points in the ninth but then broke and held to love to move 6-5 up.
He took the first set on Muller's serve when, having done well to retrieve two drop shots from Murray, Muller missed an easy smash at the net. He whacked his racket against his shoe in frustration and then smashed it on the ground, buckling it in half.
Murray dropped serve again in the opening game of the second set but broke straight back. He set up a match point with an excellent backhand cross-court winner as he retrieved a shot deep into the court, and clinched victory on his first opportunity when Muller hit a forehand wide.
Bopanna-Cuevas pair advances
Monaco: Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas recorded their first win together at the Masters level when they downed Marcin Matkowski and Alexander Peya in the opening round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Master, here.
The unseeded Ind-Uruguay pair fought past the rivals 6-3, 6-7(7), 10-2 in an hour and 27 minutes.
They had played in two Masters series event — Indian Wells and Miami — and lost in the first rounds in both.