Andy Murray brushed aside a spirited challenge from Igor Kunitsyn to book his place in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Championships on Monday.
The third seed, playing his first match since the Australian Open final, beat the Russian qualifier, ranked a lowly 90th in the world, 6-2 6-3 in 1hr 41min.
The British No 1 took almost a month off following his exertions in Melbourne, where he lost to Roger Federer in the showpiece, opting not to defend his title in Rotterdam – which cost him his world No 3 ranking – and then pulling out of the event in Marseille, much to the displeasure of the tournament organisers.
And, while not at his best, Murray, who has reached the quarter-finals on both his previous appearances in Dubai, was rarely tested on his return to the court.
“I was actually really out of breath early in the match,” Murray said, adding that he has hardly trained since he lost to Federer. “I haven’t practised that much or trained that much, so the second [25-minute] game was incredibly long.”
Murray fired down 13 aces, but managed to get only 52 per cent of first serves in – 60 per cent in the first and just 45 in the second.
Murray broke to go 2-0 up after a mammoth second game, eventually closing out the game at the ninth time of asking, and from there never looked in serious trouble.
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, to take the opening set.
The Scot dropped his serve in the first game of the second, handing it to Kunitsyn with a double fault. Murray broke straight back, though, and broke again to go 4-2 in front.
The Scot then saved a break point courtesy of an unreturned first serve before closing out the second set 6-3.
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