Andy Murray to face Facundo Bagnis in Australian Open warm-up

Andy Murray will play Facundo Bagnis in his first competitive match of 2022 as the Scot prepares for the Australian Open.

Murray will face the Argentine at Melbourne’s Summer Set tournament, with Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov lying in wait for the winner.

The Scot has been handed a wildcard for the Australian Open, which starts on January 17, with the five-time runner-up not having played at the event since 2019.

At that tournament he said that his hip injury had made continued competitive tennis impossible and that he was likely playing his last tournament.

Since then, surgery to resurface his hip allowed the former world number one to return to events and he has had limited success.

A positive Covid test ended his hopes of playing in Melbourne last January and he has said that he is excited to be competing at the major this time round.

Murray most recently played in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi where he beat Dan Evans and then Rafael Nadal before losing to world number five Andrey Rublev.

Andy’s brother Jamie Murray has already been in competitive action in Australia. The Scot is part of the Great Britain team taking part in the ATP Cup.

Jamie and doubles partner Dan Evans beat Alexander Zverev and Kevin Karwietz 6-3 6-4 in the deciding tie against Germany.

Evans had earlier beaten Jan-Lennard Struff in the singles but Cameron Norrie’s defeat to Karweitz had left the tie in the balance.

Great Britain face Canada on Tuesday in their next Group C match.