Andy Murray’s reprieve at the Geneva Open proved a brief one as he played just three games before losing in the first round to Yannick Hanfmann.
Murray had trailed the German by a set and a double break on Monday evening when impending storms sent the players from the court and brought play to an early end.
And Hanfmann took care of business under sunny skies on Tuesday lunchtime, needing barely 10 minutes to wrap up a 7-5 6-2 victory.
Murray was playing his first match on the ATP Tour since suffering an ankle injury in March and he will now head to the French Open having played only three matches on clay.
READ MORE: Scotland vs Israel Euro 25 qualifier to be played behind CLOSED DOORS
The Scot had complained about pollen blowing in from a nearby park as he struggled against the powerful Hanfmann on Monday.
He won the opening two points on the German’s serve on the resumption as he sought to make an immediate impact but Hanfmann promptly reeled off four in a row.
Although Murray then held serve comfortably, he could not force a break, dropping his racket to the court after netting a forehand before Hanfmann clinched victory with an ace.
The German will now take on Novak Djokovic in round two, while Murray departs for Paris where he is set to play at Roland Garros for the first time in four years.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here