Jun 10, 2008, 16:13 GMT
London - Andy Murray flew the flag for Britain as he began his first grass-court season since 2006 with an abbreviated 2-0 second-round victory over Sebastien Grosjean on Tuesday at the Artois Championships.
The national number one last played on his home courts in the Wimbledon fourth round two years ago, missing last summer with a wrist injury.
This time it was the Florida-based French veteran, a two-time tournament finalist, who was feeling the pain of a thigh injury which he picked up a day earlier.
The non-contest lasted just a quarter of an hour including a three-minute injury timeout while Grosjean got strapped to no avail.
'I would have rather to have won the match normally, you get a bit more confidence from that,' said Murray, who lost in the Queen's club first round two years ago.
Murray's win went down well with fans at the posh west London club, who saw three of their own lose on Monday and another, teenager Daniel Evans, crash unceremoniously to flagging former Wimbledon semi-finalist Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-1, 6-1 on Day two.
Murray said he was unaware that his 30-year-old opponent had come to the court hurting.
'He'd had a problem with his elbow before the French Open and he hurt his hamstring in Monte Carlo and didn't play. He's not played for six, seven weeks.
'I wasn't expecting him to stop the match, but I thought maybe he was hurting a little bit,' said the Scot.
Murray stand 13-3 this season with titles at Doha and Marseille, but his dream would be do do well at home.
'I'd like to get into the second week of Wimbledon and then, do better than I did the last time. I think you have to go in believing that you can win the tournament,' he said.
'If you get to the quarters, semi-finals, it's still a good result. But you've given yourself the best chance to win.'
Italian 12th seed Andreas Seppi set French hopes back further as he beat Arnaud Clement 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. American John Isner defeated South African Kevin Anderson in a battle of two-metre-plus big servers, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Italy's Simone Bolelli advanced the easy way as Canadian Frank Dancevic, recipient on Tuesday of a Wimbledon wild card, quit with a wrist injury at 2-2.
Four-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, back for a third year on the pre-Wimbledon lawns, heads the seedings, opening on Wednesday against Swede Jonas Bjorkman.
Four-time winner Andy Roddick will compete for the first time in a month after a Rome back injury, taking on American compatriot Robby Ginepri.
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