Andy Murray beats Nicolas Mahut to seal second-round berth at Queen's Club

Defending champion Andy Murray began his second stint under Ivan Lendl by booking his place in the second round of the rain-soaked 2016 Aegon Championships in West London. After yet another delay caused by wet conditions, the world number two, who reunited with his old coach last week after parting company with Amelie Mauresmo and reaching the final of the French Open, began his quest for a fifth singles title on the grass court at Queen's Club with a hard-fought 7-6, 7-6 victory over former Davis Cup doubles opponent Nicolas Mahut.

Mahut initially looked to have gained the initiative when he engineered the first break of serve to lead 3-2, but Murray hit back at the third attempt in the very next game to level proceedings once more. The opening set progressed to an eventful tiebreak, which the home favourite eventually claimed 10-8.

Despite that setback, Mahut began the second with confidence and held to love twice before breaking again and racing into a 5-2 lead. That advantage was swiftly wiped out, however, as Murray roused himself to draw level and force another tiebreak. This time there were no shifts in momentum and the two-time Grand Slam winner took five match points.

Elsewhere in W14, former Australian and French Open champion Stan Wawrinka exited the competition following defeat to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. The number two seed was broken immediately and lost the first set 6-2 before giving up the second on a tiebreak. On Monday, Richard Gasquet was toppled by Steve Johnson.

The American will play Adrian Mannarino in round two after the latter's victory over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, while compatriot Donald Young is also through after ousting Vasek Pospisil of Canada. 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic bounced back from a one-set deficit to defeat Feliciano Lopez, Roberto Bautista Agut beat Sam Querrey in three and Bernard Tomic eliminated last year's beaten finalist Kevin Anderson.

Briton Aljaz Bedene will meet Murray in the second round after an impressive victory against Benoit Paire in his opening round match. James Ward meanwhile suffered defeat to Gilles Muller, while Nick Kyrgios and Milos Raonic will continue their match on Wednesday after bad light ended play. Elsewhere, Grigor Dimitrov suffered defeat to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.

Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans have seen their opening contests against French duo Gilles Simon and Paul-Henri Mathieu postponed.