Wimbledon champ Murray returns with Montreal win

Andy Murray shook off his post-Wimbledon cobwebs with a fighting 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) opening win over Marcel Granollers to reach the third round of the Montreal Masters on Wednesday. The victory -- his 13th in succession -- came just over a month since the Scot made history with a first British Wimbledon men's singles title since 1936. Second seed Murray also took his revenge after being forced to retire against Granollers in Rome with lower back pain. After skipping the French Open, Murray has not lost a match since that day in May. Murray's victory puts him into a contest against colourful Latvian Ernests Gulbis, a 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 winner over Italian 13th seed Fabio Fognini. "It was OK. It was tricky because it is extremely windy here and the balls they use on the hard courts are very quick and hard to control," Murray told Sky Sports. "But it was good to come through." Murray had his teething troubles as he got back into match rhythm against the crafty Granollers, who won the Kitzbuhel claycourt title last weekend. The Scot won the opening set in just under an hour, despite 19 unforced errors to 18 for his opponent. Murray then fought back from 2-5 down in the second set, saving a set point in the 10th game before finally guaranteeing a tiebreaker. Trailing 0-2 in the decider, the world number two clicked into gear to run out the winner on the first of four match point as Granollers committed his final unforced error. Murray, the champion in Canada in 2009 and 2010, now stands 35-5 on the season after beating Granollers for the third time in four ATP-level meetings. Swiss eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka fell to his good friend and French practice partner, Benoit Paire 6-2, 7-6 (7/2). Wawrinka was the only other Swiss in the field after Roger Federer pulled out with a back injury. Canadians began making the most of their home week, with 71st-ranked Vasek Pospisil following up his defeat of John Isner in the first round by putting out Czech Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-4 in the second. The Vancouver player was the first of five compatriots on court on the day. One of those, Jesse Levine, had the unenviable task of facing Rafael Nadal who was returning to action for the first time since his shock Wimbledon opening round loss to Steve Darcis. Source: AFP