“It was obviously a good first week back together,” quipped the five time Queens’ Club champion Andy Murray as the BBC cameras panned to the empty chair that had been seating Ivan Lendl.

Although the Czech had vanished from Murray’s box before the trophy ceremony had begun, he and his charge will no doubt be delighted that their reunion has garnered immediate results.

Defeat for Murray at a tournament he has become so accustomed to winning would have undoubtedly been a setback ahead of Wimbledon, but there would have been little shame in losing to a player of Milos Raonic’s ability.

The Canadian went into the final on a hot streak of 47 service games unbroken, and the world No.9 made his intentions clear by opening his account on Sunday with a 40-0 love hold, with Murray only properly getting his racket to one of Raonic’s missiles.

Unsurprisingly, the first set was a tight, high-quality affair. Raonic was stung by a handful of passing shots from Murray – one at 2-2 left Raonic shaking his head in near-disbelief – but the third seed’s armoury is equally fearsome, and series of booming serves and heavy ground-strokes saw the pair tied at 6-6.

It was Murray who blinked first in the tiebreak, going down 3-0, and although the No.1 seed drew level at 5-5, it was Raonic who came out on top, ironically taking the set with a pass as Murray advanced to the net.

So often players that win tight first sets go on to be broken in the second, but Raonic came out firing, winning the second set opener 40-0, before forcing the first break of the match to take a 2-0 lead.

At the start of the third set, Raonic left the door ajar with a double fault at 30-15 up, and Murray capitalised, securing his third break with a sumptuous shot at the end of a 24-shot rally.

As has been the case for much of this week, Murray’s level rose higher and higher as the finishing line drew closer, with the world No.2 backing up some impressive serving with a consistent-looking forehand.

Raonic battled gamely, but despite saving two match points on his serve at 5-3, the Canadian eventually fell, with Murray triumphing 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 for a record fifth title at the Queen’s Club.

While Raonic will no doubt be disappointed to lose from a winning position, there has been plenty on show this week to suggest that this may not be his only Sunday appearance on the grass this summer.

“Normally I’m confident in a situation up a set and a break,” said the Canadian.

“He stepped up after that. Came up with an incredible return on that first break point chance he had.

“I started to hesitate a little bit, and these top guys are quite dangerous when they start feeling comfortable – like I always said, it’s about making the feel as uncomfortable as possible.

“I did that for quite a bit of the match at the start and then I let him get into it a little too much. I would like to be there on Sunday at Wimbledon. That would normally mean something significant. If it’s against Andy, I think it’s a great thing.”

For Murray, reaching the final Sunday at the All England Club means getting right back down to work.

"Yeah, it's obviously good preparation to win the event right beforehand, but I still have eight days until my first match there, so, you know, there's time to make things better and there is also time to mess things up," he said.

"If I have five rubbish days of practice and don't put everything into it and concentrate on what I'm trying to do and get better, then I can go into Wimbledon feeling rubbish."

While Murray was typically understated about his chances, his renewed partnership with Lendl, and their immediate success, promises much.

And where was the Czech as Murray held his fifth Queen's Club trophy aloft?

"He said he had to go to the toilet and he watched the presentation up from the balcony."