Live Commentary: Queen's - Andy Murray vs. Nicolas Mahut - as it happened

Good afternoon. British number one Andy Murray has just walked out on court at the Queen's Club ready to face Nicolas Mahut of France. The world number two is the top seed for the tournament, which he has won twice before.

There could be some delays throughout this contest. The previous match on this court was suspended earlier because of rain, and there are more showers forecast for later this afternoon.

Murray doesn't look like he's quite dialled in on serve at the start of his game, giving Mahut a chance to attack on the return, but some solid ground strokes from the baseline allow the Scot to take control of the game. The world number two finds his rhythm towards the end of the game, firing an ace past his opponent, before a fast-paced serve is followed by a poor return from Mahut, giving Murray the game.

The players have just finished their warm-ups so should be getting underway shortly, with Mahut to serve first.

Murray is on the attack early on. Mahut seems determined to come into the net and volley, giving Murray chance to but some long forehands in, with his opponent out of position at the net. The British number one earns two break points, but a couple of good serves from the Frenchman bring up deuce. He smashes his forehand past the top seed, before wrapping the game up with a volley to the sideline.

Murray doesn't look like he's quite dialled in on serve at the start of his game, giving Mahut a chance to attack on the return, but some solid ground strokes from the baseline allow the Scot to take control of the game. The world number two finds his rhythm towards the end of the game, firing an ace past his opponent, before a fast-paced serve is followed by a poor return from Mahut, giving Murray the game.

It's another solid service game from Mahut, as Murray struggles to get his returns in against the Frenchman's serve. It looks like Mahut is a good match for the Briton in the early stages of this match.

Mahut opens the game with a double fault. Murray hits a superb backhand return down the right-hand side of the court to edge in front in the game, but the Frenchman fights back with some big serves to hold serve. The world number 224 has looked very composed in the opening five games of this match, while Murray is yet to settle.

BREAK! Murray attacks well from the back of the court, but Mahut continues to pose a threat at the net. At 30-30, the Frenchman comes to the net again, but Murray also comes into the court to make the return, and wrong-foots the Frenchman to give himself a break point, but Mahut saves it with an ace. A mis-hit shot gives Murray another chance to break, and he takes it with another superb volley. It's a successful change of tactic from the world number two.

Murray makes a strong start to the game, forcing Mahut to stay at the back of the court with some deep forehands. The Frenchman can't match his opponent from the baseline, making a series of errors. Eventually, he manages to come into the net, getting himself back into the game with a backhand volley, but Murray wraps it up with an ace on the next point.

BREAK! Murray attacks well from the back of the court, but Mahut continues to pose a threat at the net. At 30-30, the Frenchman comes to the net again, but Murray also comes into the court to make the return, and wrong-foots the Frenchman to give himself a break point, but Mahut saves it with an ace. A mis-hit shot gives Murray another chance to break, and he takes it with another superb volley. It's a successful change of tactic from the world number two.

Murray builds on his success at the net with another brilliant volley, before firing a 130mph ace past his opponent. However, Mahut continues to play well at the net as well to bring up deuce. A poor return by the Frenchman gives Murray advantage, and he seals the game when Mahut fires his forehand well long.

PLAY SUSPENDED! The rain has started falling at Queen's club again, forcing the players off the court. The rain is fairly light, but the ground staff are keen to get the court covered and prevent the grass from getting too wet.

Murray starts well with a couple of good returns to take a 30-0 lead, but some big serves from the world number 224 held him to deuce. A double fault from Mahut gives Murray advantage, and the Briton loops the ball over the Frenchman, who is waiting at the net, to clinch the opening set in 37 minutes.

PLAY SUSPENDED! The rain has started falling at Queen's club again, forcing the players off the court. The rain is fairly light, but the ground staff are keen to get the court covered and prevent the grass from getting too wet.

As we wait for the weather to pass, let's take a look at some of the statistics from the first set. Murray had the better service games, getting 79% of his first serves in, compared to 74% for his opponent, who also made two double faults.

Murray could be facing Mahut again at Wimbledon in a couple of weeks. The wildcards for the tournament were announced earlier today, with the Frenchman securing a spot in the men's singles draw, despite in his 224 ranking. Mahut was knocked out of the tournament in the first round last year.

Mahut's second serve let him down, as he won just 11% of the points played on his second serve, while Murray won 2/3 of his. The Frenchman also failed to make Murray face a break point, while the Briton brought up seven against his opponent's serve, converted two.

The winner of this match will go on to play either Michael Llorda of France or Australia's Marinko Matosevic in the third round.

Don't forget, you can catch up on all the results from the Aegon Championships at Queen's with Sports Mole by clicking here

Murray could be facing Mahut again at Wimbledon in a couple of weeks. The wildcards for the tournament were announced earlier today, with the Frenchman securing a spot in the men's singles draw, despite in his 224 ranking. Mahut was knocked out of the tournament in the first round last year.

Looking at the latest image from the Met Office's rain radar, it looks like it's a fairly light shower currently hovering over the Queen's club, so hopefully the players will be able to return to the court shortly. This delay will surely help Mahut. He was able to match the top seed and cause him a few problems early in the first set, but the Briton really hit his stride to close out the opening set.

At the 2010 Wimbledon tournament, Mahut had the dubious honour of losing the longest match in tennis history to John Isner. The Frenchman was beaten 6-4 3-6 6-7 7-6 70-68 in the first round at the tournament, spending a total of 11 hours and five minutes on court over the space of three days. Mahut also broke the record for most points won in a match in that contest, taking 502.

Focusing back on Murray, he will no doubt be pleased with his performance in the first set, particularly towards the end of the set. It was unknown just how well he had recovered from the back injury, but his range of movement has been impressive, both along the baseline, and rushing into the net.

Just hearing via the Lawn Tennis Association's official Twitter account that play will resume in 10 minutes, with the rain having moved away from the courts.

In the mean time, why not have a read about all the young British stars who'll be joining the likes of Murray at Wimbledon later this month, following the wildcard announcement earlier.

The players are back on the court having a quick warm-up before resuming the match. Hopefully the British summer will let the players get this match finished this afternoon.

Incidentally, Murray has been bucking a trend at these championships by wearing a blue kit this afternoon. Most of the players have been wearing mainly white this week in preparation for Wimbledon.

There are still a few people in the crowd with their umbrellas up, and it's pretty windy around centre court, but the tournament referee and the ground staff seem happy the get play back underway.

Right, we're ready to get back underway, with Murray serving in the opening game of the second set.

The remaining moisture around the court seems to have knocked Mahut's confidence, as he's no longer rushing around the court as quickly as he was at the start of the first set. The Frechman tries a drop shot from the back of the court, forcing the top seed to rush into the net, which allowed Mahut to send a forehand down the sideline. A long shot from the Brit brings up deuce, but two big serves cause Mahut problems with his returns, and ensure a hold for the world number two.

The umpire has halted the game while the court is brushed of some residual moisture. Murray complained several times about the condition of the court while Mahut just lost his footing behind the baseline.

While the ground staff continue to work on the court, the rain seems to be returning, with umbrellas going back up in the crowd. There may be another delay coming.

The winner of this match is due to play their third-round encounter tomorrow, so may have to play two matches tomorrow if they can't get this match finished this evening. Both players are stretching on the sideline as they try to keep themselves warm and loose while they wait.

This must be very frustrating and distracting for the players. The rain is continuing to fall but the tournament director has asked the players to remain on court and hope that the shower passes.

PLAY SUSPENDED! The players are heading back off the court again, with the scores at deuce in the second game of the second set.

While the players have gone off court, the net has remained in place and the court has not been covered, so it looks like the ground staff are expecting a short delay.

We now know that the winner of this match will face Marinko Matosevic in the next round after Michael Llodra withdrew from the tournament with a hamstring injury. The Australian is currently ranked 65th in the world.

The women's Aegon Classic is also taking place in Birmingham this week. Both Laura Robson and Heather Watson were in action in the second round today, but have both been knocked out of the tournament.

It's potentially going to be quite stop-start for the rest of the day, with small patches of rain forming across the south of England. It could be a long evening for Murray and Mahut.

The LTA has tweeted that play will resume on centre court in around 10 minutes. Hopefully the weather lets us have more than one game this time!

Play has continued elsewhere at the Queen's club, which has allowed one member of the Murray family to secure a win, as Jamie Murray and doubles partner John Peers have beaten Grigor Dimitrov and Frederik Nielson.

There could yet a further delay now as the rain has started coming down yet again. Plenty of fans have remained in their seats, optimistic that play will continue, but there's no sign of the players yet.

One of Mahut's compatriots, Gael Monfils, has announced that he is withdrawing from Wimbledon, citing "personal reasons". The 26-year-old has been competing at Halle in Germany this week.

Andy Murray and Nicolas Mahut have just come back onto the court ready to get this second-round match back underway, much to the pleasure of the rather damp fans.

As the players have been off court for a little while, they'll be given a couple of minutes to warm up again. Just a reminder, it's on serve in the second set, with Mahut serving at deuce. Murray won the first set 6-3.

Andy Murray's coach Ivan Lendl is obviously happy with the conditions. He's got his sunglasses on, and just cracked a very rare smile!

Here we go, Murray vs. Mahut - take three

From deuce, Mahut quickly takes advantage with an ace, before beating Murray in rally from the baseline. A comfortable re-start for the Frenchman.

Murray opens with an ace before serving up his first double fault of the match. The top seed quickly regains control of the game though, with a superb overhead smash and an ace, before rounding the game off with a big serve, that Mahut returns to the net.

A couple of strong volleys from Mahut help him take the lead, befor a long backhand from Murray and a return to the net allow the world number 224 a comfortable hold. Murray is still unhappy with the conditions on the court, complaining that he can't get a foothold behind the baseline.

PLAY SUSPENDED! Murray claims the opening point of his service game, but the noise of the rain distracts him while he prepares to serve, and the umpire suspends play. It's a heavier shower than before, and the ground staff get the covers on immediately.

Well as quickly as the rain started, it appears to have stopped again. Hopefully the court didn't get too wet during that little downpour, and the players will be able to come back shortly.

As I mentioned earlier, Murray has won this tournament twice before. In 2009 he beat American James Blake in straight sets in the final, while two years ago he had to come from a set down against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to wrap up his second Queen's title.

Another former champion who is still in the draw is Australia's Lleyton Hewitt. The former world number one won the tournament from 2000 to 2002 and again in 2006, and beat Grigor Dimitrov in the second round earlier today, before the rain arrived.

During Mahut's most recent service game, Murray looked a little less comfortable behind the baseline than in previous games. The stop-start nature of this match surely has not helped the Scot in his recovery from a back injury. It's three hours since the players first came onto the centre court at Queen's, but they've actually played for just 58 minutes.

With Wimbledon just around the corner, let's remind ourselves of Andy Murray's impressive record at SW19. Since making his debut in 2005, the Scot has improved every year, excluding 2007 when he missed the tournament with injury. After three consecutive semi-final appearances, Murray reached the final last year, but lost in four sets to Roger Federer. Can he go one better this year? It will be a tough ask with Rafael Nadal back and in form, and Novak Djokovic also looking strong.

There's still plenty of grey cloud hanging around over Queen's club. It's looking more and more likely that this match could be carried over until tomorrow.

The final of this tournament will take place on Sunday, as will the "Rally Against Cancer" event, which is raising money for the Royal Marden hospital, where British tennis player Ross Hutchins has been receiving treatment. The event will see Andy Murray and Tim Henman take on Ivan Lendl and Tomas Berdych in a doubles match.

Well the second set hasn't really got going, with there being so many delays, but let's take a look at some of the stats so far. Murray's impressive performance with his first serve in the opening set has dropped slightly, with 71% going in, while Mahut is holding steady at 73%. Murray has served three aces and a double fault so far, while Mahut has one of each.

While Mahut has looked good during his own service games, he's still yet to really challenge Murray during the top seed's serve, with the Briton yet to face a break point.

If play does not resume shortly, and the dark cloud continue to linger, it's likely that light will become an issue if the players do manage to get back on court this evening.

It does look like it's actually starting to brighten up a little around Queen's club. We've seen this happen throughout the day, but hopefully this time it will stay dry long enough for this match to be completed. However, as the court has been covered, it may take a little while for the grass to dry enough for play to resume.

When the latest batch of rain set in their were three other singles matches underway. If they all have to be carried over until tomorrow it could cause a bit of a back up of matches over the next couple of days.

Well the covers are off on centre court and the ground staff are inspecting the playing surface and putting the net back up. It looks like we may be getting some more action after all.

Once again, the weather was just teasing us. The rain has returned and the covers are back on the centre court. It really doesn't look like it's going to happen for Murray and Mahut today.

Fair play to some of the spectators today, even though it's fairly dark and overcast and raining pretty heavily, there's still around 30 of them sat in their seats with their umbrellas up.

PLAY CANCELLED! The LTA has confirmed that there will be no more play today because of the ongoing rainy condition at the Queen's club.

In that case, I'm afraid that's all from the Aegon Championships at Queen's today. Join us again tomorrow when it's likely to be a pretty packed schedule. Fingers crossed it'll be better weather too. Thanks for joining me this afternoon, good bye.