Andy Murray tested his surgically repaired hip in his first hard-court match in nearly 18 months, coming back for a 3-6 6-4 7-5 victory at the Washington Open against Mackenzie McDonald.
There were stretches when Murray looked very much like exactly what he is at the moment: a guy working his back from an operation in January.
He failed to convert any of the five match points he held while serving for the win against the American at 5-4 in the final set before eventually closing out the match three games later.
Murray is a former No.1 who owns two Wimbledon trophies plus another from the US Open. But he's ranked just 832nd now, on account of so much time away. He sat out the second half of last season because of the bad hip, and then didn't compete this year until June.
This match was only his fourth of 2018. The fifth will come in the second round at Washington against Kyle Edmund, the man who overtook him as Britain's top-ranked man during Murray's injury absence.
Murray dropped six of seven games to close the opening set, part of a stretch in which he was broken in four of five service games.
But he also managed to show flashes of the form that carried him to three grand slam titles and a pair of Olympic gold medals. There was a cross-court passing winner at just the right angle. There was a full-sprint backhand flick of a lob winner. Plenty of muttering to himself between points, too.
If Murray was hoping for a chance to test his hip, he got it.
In other matches, Noah Rubin got past Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-4; Tim Smyczek beat Ricardas Berankis 7-6 (7-4) 6-2, and Malek Jaziri defeated Evgeny Donskoy 6-4 6-1.
Rubin now faces No.2 seed John Isner, Jaziri plays No.1 seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev, while Smyczek meets Zverev's older brother, No.15 seed Mischa.
Australians Jordan Thompson, James Duckworth, Alex de Minaur and Alex Bolt are all scheduled for first round matches on Tuesday.
Nick Kyrgios has a first round bye.
