Murray loses to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Andy Murray’s first match since undergoing surgery in the autumn ended in a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

World No 4 Murray has been out of action since an operation in September to correct a long-standing back injury and was some way from his best as he went down 7-5 6-3 in the first round of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.

Murray matched Tsonga for much of the first set, the contest going with serve to 5-6 before his opponent converted his first break-point chance with a precise lob to take the opener.

Murray came out firing in the next to immediately forced a break of the Tsonga serve, but the Briton was unable to maintain his advantage and two breaks for Tsonga on successive Murray service games gave the Frenchman a 72-minute victory.

The opening match of the invitational tournament ended with victory for world No 3 Ferrer, who defeated Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka 7-5 6-1.

Ferrer now progresses to an all-Spanish semi-final against world No 1 Rafael Nadal, while Tsonga will meet Novak Djokovic, the world No 2, in the last four.

Murray will get more match practice under his belt when he meets Wawrinka in a fifth-place play-off.