Cincinnati Masters: Andy Murray goes down to Lucas Pouille, Stan Wawrinka overcomes Schwartzman

Andy Murray’s injury comeback was sidetracked as the three-time Grand Slam champion lost 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 to Lucas Pouille in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.

But fellow injury patient Stan Wawrinka opened with a defeat of 12th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic beat Steve Johnson of the US 6-4, 7-6 (7/4).

Murray, returning from January hip surgery, was unable to get past the French 16th seed, hampering his preparations for the US Open starting on August 27

“Physically, I felt okay. It’s quick conditions here,” Murray said. “He was a little bit sharper than me out there.

“I maybe wasn’t reacting as quickly to some shots I would have liked.”

Murray last played 11 days ago in a Washington third-round match which took him three hours to win and ended at 3 a.m.

The 31-year-old two-time Wimbledon winner is working his way back slowly and felt he could not subject his body to a quarter-final just over 12 hours later, prompting him to withdraw from that event.

“After Washington, I took four, five days off the tennis court. I did a lot of training, a lot of rehab.

“As the year goes on, I’ll be able to get a little bit more consistency like on the practice court and on the tennis court.”

Pouille had lost his previous three matches to Murray, the last at Dubai in 2017.

Spanish 13th seed Pablo Carreno Busta started his week with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 defeat of France’s Richard Gasquet, while Japan’s Kei Nishikori put out Russian Andrey Rublev, 7-5, 6-3.

Peter Gojowczyk of Germany defeated Joao Sousa 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 and will next line up against seven-time winner Roger Federer, at second the highest seed in the field after the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov beat US tournament debutant Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 7-5 while Sam Querrey beat ninth-seeded American compatriot John Isner 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5).