Andy Murray enjoyed a winning return to competitive action as he and Feliciano Lopez sank top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah at Queen’s Club on Thursday.

Former world number one and three-time grand slam winner Murray is making his tentative comeback from what he hopes was career-saving hip surgery in the doubles at the Fever-Tree Championships.

And 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.

It had only been 143 days since Murray, fearing being forced into retirement, underwent the hip resurfacing surgery, following a series of emotional goodbyes at the Australian Open in January.

Crucially, Murray felt in good shape afterwards, with no pain whatsoever in his hip.

He said: “I learnt quite a bit tonight. I sort of expected to be the worst player on the court, which was probably the case in the first set.

“But then I think I started to play better in the second and started to serve a bit better, see the returns a little bit better and things.

“I have zero discomfort in my hip, like, nothing. And if I had done this last year, you know, I’d be here aching, throbbing, and feel bad the next day.

“So I’ll just keep pushing and see how it goes. But I feel optimistic about the future. I don’t know how long it will take to get to that level, but, you know, hopefully not too long.”