Andy Murray made a victorious return to tennis at Queens this evening as he and Feliciano Lopez saw off top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
The two-times Wimbledon champion put five months of injury agony behind him with a smooth showing in the round of 16 of the Queen's Club Championship.
A bumper Centre-Court crowd was treated to some vintage Murray as the five-time Queen's singles champion and his Spanish partner ran out 7-6 (5) 6-3 winners.
Murray looked set to call time on his career earlier this year when he announced at January's Australian Open that it might be his last tournament.
A chronic hip injury which had dogged him on and off for years looked to have brought an end to his time at the top in which he won Wimbledon twice as well as the US Open and an Olympic gold.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic even produced a farewell video for their pal.
But surgery on his problem hip appears to have solved the problem and Murray has been practising pain free for weeks now.
"It was brilliant, I enjoyed it a lot," Murray told the BBC. "I was a bit slow at the beginning but got better as the match went along.
"I'm really fortunate to be playing tennis again. I absolutely love playing on this court, it's a brilliant place to play.
"I felt quite relaxed in the build-up, but we said as we were walking on to the court that we were starting to feel a bit nervous. But you need those butterflies."
This evening's return to competitive tennis might not come in time to hand him a place in the singles at Wimbledon. But he could be involved in the doubles at SW19.
