BRISBANE, January 2, 2019

Andy Murray made a successful return to competitive tennis on Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Australian James Duckworth at the Brisbane International.

The 31-year-old Briton ended his 2018 season early after the Shenzhen Open in September suffering pain in his hip following a surgery earlier last year that ruled him out of three of the four Grand Slam events.

Murray, whose ranking has dropped to World No. 240 and is unseeded at the ATP 250 hard-court event, had said he was still feeling pain in his hip but was in a “better place” than he was 12 months ago.

💪 He’s back! @andy_murray beats Duckworth 6-3, 6-4 at @BrisbaneTennis for the perfect way to start 2019 #BackTheBrits 🇬🇧

📽️ @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/NKxJErileq

— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) 1. Januar 2019

“I was a bit nervous. But as the match went on I thought I moved well,” Murray said after his 10th successive win at the Queensland Tennis Centre, having won the Brisbane tournament at both his previous appearances in 2012 and 2013.

“It’s my first match after a big break. It’s not easy to sum up [but] it’s been really hard the last 18 months, been a lot of ups and downs trying to get back on court.

“Being back now I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can, for as long as I can because I am not sure how much longer I have got.“