Andy Murray rebounded nicely from his Australian Open disappointment as the Scot defeated Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the second round of the ATP Rotterdam World Tennis event. The world number four who lost the Grand Slam title bid 10 days ago to Novak Djokovic, showed no rust as he hammered the 109th-ranked Mahut to hand the Frenchman a 30th career defeat by a top 10 player.
Murray, the 2009 champion at the Ahoy Stadium, improved to 4-1 over Mahut, who beat him in a shock on grass at Queen's club in a 2012 first round, "It was a high-quality match," said the winner, 7-1 on the season. "In the second set he had a lot of chances. "We played some long games with some very good points, it was a real contrast in styles, as he likes to come to the net whenever possible.
"It was a good match, a very high standard. The scoreline does not reflect how tough it was." Murray moved into a second-round contest against Canadian Vasek Pospisil. Fourth seed Stan Wawrinka was making his start later, facing Dutchman Jesse Huta Galung. Muray was never in trouble against Mahut as the 33-year-old qualifier played the event for the fourth time, as the Scottish seed earned a break for 4-2 as Mahut lunged and missed on a volley in the first set.