LONDON – Andy Murray got a win in his first match since adding Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the Queen's Club grass-court tournament, a warm-up event for Wimbledon.
Since his loss to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final, Murray has won 19 consecutive matches on grass and captured three titles, including the 2012 London Olympic gold, played at the All England Club, and Wimbledon and Queen's last year.
Murray hired former top-ranked player and two-time major winner Mauresmo as his coach on Sunday, initially for the grass-court season. He has been without a coach since he parted ways with Ivan Lendl in March.
Murray served 10 aces and won 35 of 38 points on his first serve in the match.
Ernests Gulbis, who reached his maiden Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open last week, fell to Kenny De Schepper of France 7-6 (3), 7-5.
"I like the grass," said Gulbis, the sixth seed from Latvia. "But I never played well the first tournament. I always played decent in Wimbledon if I practiced well. So now I'm going to stay here, practice two weeks on grass. I'm going to be fully fine for Wimbledon."
Lleyton Hewitt remains one victory short of Roger Federer's record of 122 match wins on grass after being beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Feliciano Lopez.
Hewitt, a four-time champion at Queen's, was broken once in each set and failed to earn a single break point against the 10th-seeded Spaniard. It's the first time the Australian has lost to Lopez in five meetings.
The 33-year-old Hewitt had been bidding to become the first player to win Queen's five times. He shares the record of four titles with Andy Roddick.
"I played a bit of a loose game the second game of the match," he said. "Then, yeah, he served really well the whole match. He had a lot better rhythm today than he did yesterday in his first-round match. He hit his spots really well."
Australian Bernard Tomic's struggles continued with a loss to 15th-seeded Radek Stepanek 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5). Tomic, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2011, has only made it past the second round of a tournament once this year at the Sydney International in January.