Andy Murray made the perfect start to his bold venture with new coach Amelie Mauresmo yesterday as the Wimbledon champion opened his Queen’s Club title defense with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Murray sent shockwaves through the tennis world when he announced on Sunday that Frenchwoman Mauresmo would replace Ivan Lendl, who quit in March, as his coach for at least the grasscourt season.

The 27-year-old’s decision to ignore several high-profile male coaches to hire Mauresmo, a former world No. 1 and Wimbledon champion, has been the talk of the sport since.

Mauresmo, the current France Fed Cup captain, has tried her hand at coaching on several occasions since retiring in 2009.

She had a brief spell working with male player Michael Llodra in 2010, but in the testosterone fuelled world of men’s tennis few players have female coaches and the decision is seen in some quarters as a major gamble.

In the circumstances, a routine second-round victory at this Wimbledon warm-up was exactly the kind of first date the pair needed as Murray, bidding to win Queen’s for a record-tying fourth time, proved far too strong for world No. 92 Mathieu.

Since losing to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final, Murray has been unstoppable on grass and his winning run, which brought him Olympic gold, a first Wimbledon crown and a third Queen’s title, has now extended to 19 matches.

Murray’s opponent in the third round will be 15th-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek, who defeated Australian Bernard Tomic 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).

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