Murray earns season's first win
Doha: 2008 and 2009 champion Andy Murray earned his first win of the 2024 season with a superb performance to beat France's Alexandre Muller on Tuesday.
The three Grand Slam winner Murray ended a six-match losing streak with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) victory over the world number 75.
A wild celebration showed what it meant to the 36-year-old, who also raised his arms in relief when reminded that it was his first victory of the year.
"Obviously, the last few months have been tough on the court for me, I've not won many matches and lost a lot of close ones, so I'm delighted to get through," said Murray.
"I'm proud I managed to get through the match, get a win, and hopefully this is the start of a better run."
Murray, ranked 50th, plays 18-year-old Jakub Mensik in the second round.
In the other matches of the day, Mensik and Christopher O'Connell each recorded an upset victory. Mensik won 70 percent of his first serves to notch a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in 93 minutes. O'Connell, in turn, posted a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over sixth-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff to set up a second-round match versus Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori, who outlasted Italian Giulio Zeppieri, 7-6 (2), 7-5.
Frenchmen Hugo Grenier and Richard Gasquet each won their respective first-round matches, while countryman Alexandre Muller was not as fortunate.
Grenier seized a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Germany's Maximilian Marterer, and Gasquet secured a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko.
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