By Chris Oddo | Friday, January 2, 2015

Rafael Nadal returned to competitive tennis only to be brushed aside by an in-form Andy Murray at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi on Friday, 6-2, 6-0.

Murray, sporting his new Under Armour gear, produced several scintillating points and generally played a more consistent and more assertive match than Nadal to cruise to victory.

Though Nadal lost handily, he can feel good about making a pain-free return to the hard courts, as well as playing some good tennis in patches.

“I had no rhythm, was a lot of times out of position, but 6-2, 6-0 is a bit too much, as I had a lot of chances to get a closer result,” Nadal said to reporters after the match, according to Tennis Tour Talk. “Anyway, It’s a perfect start here competing with the top players. Matches like this will help me to improve.”

"It was closer than the score suggests,” Murray, who defeated Feliciano Lopez in his first match at Abu Dhabi on Thursday, said. “While he had a lot of break points I won the important ones. You never know how you will get on until it comes to match conditions, but it seems that all the pre-season hard work is paying off."

In other action at Abu Dhabi, Novak Djokovic swept past Stan Wawrinka, 6-1, 6-2. Djokovic will face off against Murray in Saturday’s final.