Queen's: Andy Murray through, Stan Wawrinka out

Ivan Lendl watched on as Andy Murray started the defence of his Queen's title with a straight-sets victory over Nicolas Mahut after Fernando Verdasco claimed the scalp of Stan Wawrinka.

Murray announced last weekend that Lendl agreed to coach him for a second time, two years after the pair split, and the world number two began his grass-court season by battling past Mahut 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-1) in the first round in London.

Mahut won the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships for a third time on Monday but was unable to pull off an upset a day later in top seed Murray's first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in his first French Open final.

Murray, eyeing a fifth Queen's title, made hard work of reaching round two, saving a set point in the first breaker and another three when serving to stay in the second set at 6-5 down before ending Mahut's resistence.

The Brit had to come from a break down in the first set to force a tie-break and trailed 4-1 in the second, but dug deep to thwart the unseeded Frenchman and set up a match against compatriot Aljaz Bedene, who beat Benoit Paire in a three-setter.

Wawrinka failed to hit the ground running on grass with Wimbledon fast approaching, suffering a shock 6-2 7-6 (7-3) defeat to experienced Spaniard Verdasco.

The world number five, who has employed Richard Krajicek for the grass-court swing, had a first-serve percentage of only 53 and crashed out after failing to convert any of his eight break-point opportunities.

Verdasco will now face Bernard Tomic, who beat last year's runner-up Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-4.

Tuesday also saw victories for Roberto Bautista-Agut, Adrian Mannarino, Donald Young and fifth seed Marin Cilic – who had to come from a set down to beat Feliciano Lopez.

Janko Tipsarevic, Jiri Vesely and Gilles Muller also went through, while Milos Raonic and Nick Kyrgios were level at one set each when play was suspended.