• Valencia Open

Murray races past Lopez in Valencia

Andy Murray will face Juan Monaco in round two in Valencia © Getty Images

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Andy Murray booked his place in the second round of the Valencia Open with a fluent 6-3 7-6(1) win over Feliciano Lopez.

Murray said on the morning of the game that he was looking to waste little time as he intended to take in Rangers' clash with Valencia in the Champions League. For the entirety of the first set, he was true to his word as he jumped all over Lopez. The Scot sized up the Spaniard early on before securing a break of serve in the fourth game.

Murray's first-serve percentage was down at 46% but he kept his opponent on the move and wrapped up the opening set in 30 minutes. But Murray so often seems to find a way of making life hard for himself and he allowed Lopez back into the game with a sloppy service game which handed the world No. 31 a break.

The Scot worked the break back to force the set into a tiebreak, after saving a couple of set points on his own serve, and he flexed his muscles by securing an immediate minibreak. Lopez hit back but his serve was always prey to Murray's quality returning and he climbed into a couple of second serves to book his place in the second round.

Up next for Murray is a clash with Juan Monaco, but he will have his sights on the Mestalla and Champions League football first.

One of Murray's main rivals for the title, No. 4 seed David Ferrer, survived a huge scare before battling back to overcome fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-7(3) 6-3 6-3.

The Valencia crowd were treated to a couple of tight battles earlier in the day, as Juan Ignacio Chela edged out Philip Kohlschreiber 6-2 3-6 6-2, while Daniel Gimeno-Traver beat Nicolas Almagro 6-4 3-6 6-3.

At the Swiss Indoors, Novak Djokovic fired a statement of intent by breezing past the dangerous Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-2 in 71 minutes. Djokovic was well beaten in the last meeting between the players, but he cast aside those bad memories with a dominant performance.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Victor Troicki, who took 49 minutes to dimiss Michael Berrer, and Richard Gasquet, conqueror of Yen-Hsun Lu. Marin Cilic and David Nalbandian also enjoyed serene passages into the second round on a busy day of action.

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