Andy Murray scored an emotional first win on grass since 2018 beating Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-2 in the first round at the Queen’s Club in London.

“I love it. I love playing tennis,” a tear-eyed Murray told the crowd. “Obviously competing is why you put in all the hard work. In the last few years I didn’t get to do that as much as I would have liked, so it’s great that I’m out here and able to compete again.”

The 5-time tournament champion rolled past the Frenchman in just 64 minutes for his first tour win since March. He didn’t face a break point.

“The body is old, but I did quite well today in terms of my movement and stuff,” Murray said. “It’s my first match on grass in three years and I’ve only played two or three practice sets in the buildup to this. I didn’t know exactly how I was going to play or how I was going to feel, but I think for a first match it was good.”

After a day off, the 34-year-old Murray will return on Thursday to meet top seed Matteo Berrettini on Thursday.

“Berrettini is obviously a top player, top seed here. He had a really strong French Open and I need to play one level up from today if I want to do well there,” Murray said.

Marin Cilic, Dan Evans, Alex De Minaur and Denis Shapovalov were also winners.