Murray rates Cincinnati singles comeback 'OK' despite defeat

Cincinnati: Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray said he "did OK" in his first singles match in seven months — a 6-4 6-4 loss to Richard Gasquet at the Cincinnati Masters here.

"I don't really know what I was expecting, to be honest," said Murray on Monday, sidelined since January by a career-threatening hip injury. "I did OK. There were a lot of things I would like to have done better in the match, but you also have to be somewhat realistic in terms of what you can expect, in terms of how you actually play and hit the ball." Murray said he "felt fine, physically," during the match. "My legs were a little bit heavy at the end of the match. When Richard drop-shotted me, there were a few times I didn't even run to the ball, didn't react to it. That's nothing to do with my hip, that's just me not running for a ball." Murray hadn't played a singles match since a five-set first-round exit at the Australian Open, where he tearfully acknowledged he feared his career was over. Since undergoing right hip resurfacing surgery on January 28 he has slowly fashioned a return.

Murray has been playing doubles for the past two months, winning at Queen's Club in London with Feliciano Lopez. Gasquet, however, was too strong for the 32-year-old, who won the title in the US Open warm-up in Cincinnati in 2008 and 2011. Gasquet, who had groin surgery in January, ended a five-match skid against the Briton, now ranked 324th. Murray opened the game with a double fault, and his forehand into the net gave Gasquet a match point that the 56th-ranked Frenchman converted when Murray sent a service return wide to end the match after 96 minutes.