Murray beats Monfils in Aix-en-Provence Challenger

For two men more used to meeting in the second week of a Grand Slam, a Challenger Tour event in the south of France is not the place you would expect to see Andy Murray and Gael Monfils going head to head.

But sometimes, needs must. And with Murray chasing a first clay-court win of the year and Monfils still building form and fitness on his return from injury, the pair slogged it out in the first round of the Open Aix Provence Credit Agricole Challenger Tour event on Wednesday.

This was their first meeting since 2014, when Murray beat Monfils in the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros and 17 years after their first meeting, a clash in Hamburg, which Murray also won.

And it was Murray who came out on top again on Wednesday, winning 6-3, 6-2 to get on the board in the clay-court season after two discouraging events, in Monte-Carlo and Madrid.

Frenchman Monfils had the support of the home crowd but he made too many loose errors and struggled on serve, broken four times by Murray, who advanced to the second round with relative ease.

The Scot will play another Frenchman, Laurent Lokoli, in the second round.

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