Murray will partner Max Mirnyi in the men's doubles at Queen's

Jamie Murray's hopes of playing in this year's Artois Championships singles at Queen's Club ended after he was beaten in the first round of qualifying.

Britain's number one doubles player had received a wildcard for the qualifying draw, but fell 7-5 6-3 to Poland's Lucasz Kubot in west London.

But Murray, 22, is staying positive about a wildcard for Wimbledon in June.

He said: "It would be very exciting to play in the tournament. If I get the opportunity I would be very grateful."

Eight wildcards are available for the men's and women's Wimbledon events and are given to players whose ranking is not high enough to enter the event on merit.

But Murray - who had not played a top singles match since last April - is currently without a world singles ranking.

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"It's good to get a match before the doubles, hit a lot of serves, a lot of returns, getting used to moving forward, so it was worthwhile," said the Scot, who will partner Max Mirnyi in the men's doubles at Queen's.

Meanwhile, the draw has been made for the first-round proper and while British number one Andy Murray has an initial bye, he could face tough opposition later on.

Murray, seeded sixth, is likely to face French veteran Sebastien Grosjean in round two, with four-time winner Andy Roddick a possible quarter-final opponent and Rafael Nadal potentially waiting in the semis.

World number three Novak Djokovic is in the opposite half of the draw.

British wildcard Josh Goodall has been drawn against four-time Artois champion Lleyton Hewitt, while Alex Bogdanovic will play a qualifier when the action gets under way on Monday.

Fellow British wildcard Dan Evans takes on former Wimbledon semi-finalist Xavier Malisse.