Andy Murray put his Wimbledon preparation back on track yesterday when he recovered from an injury to his right thumb to beat Janko Tipsarevic in the Boodles Challenge at Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, despite again struggling with his grip on the grass.

Playing for the first time since he was forced to withdraw from the Artois Championships at Queen's Club after injuring the thumb in his third-round victory over Ernests Gulbis, Murray was hard-pressed in his 6-3, 5-7, 12-10 victory over the Serb, the third set replaced by a champions' tie-break.

“It felt good as I had not hit a ball for about four days,” the Scot said. “I wanted to test the thumb. There were a few times when I mishit the ball that I felt it. But I was able to play for around an hour and a half and it felt OK.”

Murray cruised into a 3-0 lead but there were gasps at courtside in the sixth game when the British No1 went over on his right ankle and lay motionless for a few seconds. But, to the relief of the crowd, he soon leapt to his feet, calling out: “I'm OK.”

He said afterwards: “I don't know if it's the shoes or whatever, but I struggled a little bit. It's tough when you're on the court and you keep falling over. It makes it difficult to feel comfortable to chase down every ball, which is something I normally do.”

Murray exchanged breaks with Tipsarevic to take the set 6-3. He struggled again to stay on his feet in losing the second set before taking the tie-break after the Serb hit a smash into the net and then failed to return Murray's serve on match point.

Lindsay Davenport, the former world No1, also suffered an injury scare yesterday, pulling out of the International Women's Open in Eastbourne because of a knee injury. It is not known if she will be fit to play at Wimbledon.

Josh Goodall, Richard Bloomfield and Chris Eaton, all Britons, won their first-round matches in the men's qualifying tournament for Wimbledon, with Anna Smith and Amanda Elliott flying the flag for Britain's women.