Andy Murray wins Queen's club, the key Wimbledon warm-up event

ANDY Murray capped his injury return with victory at Queen's club, but he must step up to topple Nadal or Djokovic at Wimbledon.

IN terms of the weight and magnificence of trophies, there was little distinction between those held aloft yesterday by Roger Federer and Andy Murray.

The players who contested the Wimbledon men's singles final of 2012 approach this year's event with their grass-court games in a settled place. To suggest any more than that is to invite a degree of partisanship.

The best two players in the world, on their present seismic form, are Novak Djokovic, who arrived in London yesterday, and Rafael Nadal, who is due in the next couple of days.

Their meeting in the semi-finals of the French Open just ten days ago, which was all staggering machismo, rallies that tugged at the sinews, drained the lungs and which defined modern-day tennis, is rather too fresh in the memory not to believe that the man who defeats them at the All England Club will have either won the cup or gone a very long way to doing so.

But in a distant corner of Germany and a fancy suburb of London yesterday were glimpses of the reasons why both the Swiss, who is chasing his eighth title on the grass, and the Scot, so desperately keen to break the foreign stranglehold over the event that has lasted since 1936, are serious contenders.

En route to landing his sixth Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Federer defeated Mischa Zverev, of Germany, 6-0, 6-0 and apologised for having made a bit of a fool of his opponent.

In the final, in three sets, he mastered Mikhail Youzhny, the Russian veteran, for his 77th singles title on the ATP World Tour, joining John McEnroe on a figure bettered only by Ivan Lendl (94) and Jimmy Connors (109).

Murray's 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic, the defending champion, in the AEGON Championships at Queen's Club was the showcase for how to play a little below your best, raise your game when required and then exploit home advantage and an overriding desire to succeed by winning his 27th career title (only another 50 to go, Andy).

It was his sixth consecutive victory over the Croat, who has probably not hit the ball with greater consistent purpose and authority against him. Cilic may not be able to play much better than this; Murray decidedly can.

The final did not start until 3.30pm because of a thin and aggravating drizzle that coated the venue with frustration and that did, at least, do wonders for the sales of Pimm's and umbrellas.

When the match started in earnest, Murray raced into a 3-0 lead that ought to have been a platform to dictate the construction and pace of the rallies.

But Cilic, in his second final of the year after victory in his home tournament in Zagreb, had been close in most of the rallies and recovered the break in the seventh game.

In the eighth game, Murray slipped and let out a yelp of pain, but said later that he managed to run it off after taking the next couple of games cautiously.

On the first point of the tenth, Murray's return of serve brushed the baseline and was called out. His successful challenge [and you don't write that very often] meant the point had to be replayed. He lost that game, was broken in the next and spent the entire change of ends replaying the injustice in his head, and lost the set in the next game.

There was a single break in the second set, a remarkable forehand lob on the initial point of the twelfth game so stunning Cilic that he nudged a backhand long to fall set point down and then net a forehand to bring the match level.

By now, the sun was beating down and it was as if the first six days of the event were a figment of the imagination.

Murray opened the third set in imperious fashion, holding to love and breaking Cilic in the fourth game when a blocked forehand return, mid-court and able to be put anywhere the Croat pleased, was rather too inviting and he smacked his forehand wide.

We had the shot of the week in the fifth game, a rolling backhand arrow from Murray to bring up two break points, but Cilic was solid beneath the high ball and managed to keep the final alive until Murray played an exquisite service game, bringing up match point with a classic off-forehand and drawing a netted forehand from the world No12 on a second match point.

For the third time in five years, Murray had his hands on the old London Grass Court trophy, a particularly bulky piece of silverware.

He tossed his armbands towards the players' balcony where stood Ross Hutchins, his best friend, who, this week, completed his initial six-month course of treatment to try to beat the Hodgkin's lymphoma that was diagnosed last December.

Murray and Hutchins have been buddies for a decade. They have shared dinner tables, long drives from Davis Cup ties in Glasgow back to Surrey and a lot of boisterous joy.

After yesterday's final, there was a couple of hours of let-the-hair-down fun on Centre Court for the Rally Against Cancer, the proceeds from which will go to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, where Hutchins has been treated.

"He has dealt with his illness very well, he's been so brave and he just finished his last treatment on Thursday," Murray told the crowd.

"If anyone can stay, we would appreciate it. I honestly want to win this match [he and Tim Henman versus Ivan Lendl, his coach, and Tomas Berdych] more than the one I just played. I have to spend a week with him [Lendl] before Wimbledon and if Tim and I lose, he's going to be all over me. I hope you guys are on our side." He was close to tears, as was Hutchins, and a few more besides.

Well, Murray and Henman did win their match and 125,000 pounds was raised. Murray succeeded in what he had set out to do, he struck his coach amidships - much as Lendl had done to many of his opponents down the years - and it drew from him a smile as wide as the Clyde estuary.

Seeing him in this mood does the heart good. Now for business.

The Times